《The Forgotten Light》 Chapter 1: The Cave After months of searching I finally made it. The cave of shadows. The entrance was hard to find, but once inside it was nothing like I had seen before. Dark grungy walls calling at me to enter it and find out what laid in the middle. The only light I had was from a small torch that I was able to light with a spark from two rocks being smashed together. The walls were rough with a light brown tinge to them, I ran my hand along the wall feeling my way this adventure within itself. Then there it was. The most beautiful thing in the world. Hanging from the ceiling were hundreds upon thousands of Ruby reflecting the dim light from my torch. Below was a lake, whose water apparently healed whatever pain you may have experienced in the past only to make room for something new. That was only a legend; however, it was a legend that took me on a ten month journey that almost killed me in the process. I started making my way towards the lake when suddenly the entire cave began to shake and caused giant pieces of rubies to fall into the bottomless lake below. I ran over to a giant rock, placed next to the wall, and held on for dear like as I prayed that nothing would crash and fall on my head. When the shaking began to calm down and almost disappear I let go of the rock, got on my hands and knees and crawled towards the lake. I didn¡¯t want to stand up again in case the cave started to shake again, and being as low as I could; without being on my stomach, seemed like the best option. After a few crawls I would stop and stare at the ceiling making sure that I wasn¡¯t going to be crushed by anything if I made a false move. I finally got to the lake and just stared at my reflection wondering if the water before me would really heal any kind of pain. But without giving it a second thought I cupped both of my hands together and reached towards the water. I tried to scoop the water but nothing touched my hands, as if the water was only an illusion. The more I tried, the more I knew that my entire trip was just big waste of time with no reward in the end. The moment I was about to give up my hands filled with water. Slowly pouring the small amount into my mouth I tried to savour every drop. A bit trickled down my face and as if like magic healed a scar that I¡¯ve had on my face since I was four. ¡®It works, it really works¡¯ I thought. I tried to scoop more water; however, I remember that when I didn¡¯t want it I got it. So I thought about anything I could except for the water and just like that I got another scoop of water in my hands. The more I drank the better I felt and knew that the ¡°so called legend¡± turned out to be true. Not wanting to be greedy I stopped after three scoops and finally stood up. I whipped my head around and saw a large man standing there with both hands holding a metal pipe as if he was going to hit me with me. I threw my arms over my head, to protect my body, and crouched so I could have enquire the least amount of pain to my body as possible. ¡°I¡¯m not going to hurt you¡± said the man. ¡°I just wanted to know how you were able to get the water from the lake.¡± He paused for a moment, moved the metal pipe to one hand and lowered his arms to his side. ¡°I have seen many people try and fail. But you, you must be something special if you can do something that not even the strongest warriors can do.¡± ¡°It was nothing really¡± I shrugged. I stepped forward wanting to leave but the man placed his hand on my shoulder, causing me harm not only to my shoulder but also to my legs ¨Cwhich were frozen with fear. ¡°Show me¡± he said while pointing to the water. ¡° You see I would love to, but I have so much to do and I don¡¯t want to be greedy with the power that lays within.¡± With a stern look on his face and a threatening voice Linley raised the metal pipe back to the position it was in when I first saw him and said, ¡°Either you show me how to extract the water from this lake or I will beat your head in with this pipe. Got it?¡± This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°Well when you put it that way how can I refuse?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I thought. Now, move it bitch¡± he said while shoving me towards the lake. Once again I was at the edge of the lake on my hands and knees getting ready to scoop the water, when a thought hit me. ¡®What will happen if I can¡¯t relax enough to get the water, will he actually kill me? Or what if I do some water, what will he do with it?¡¯ I looked up at the shimmer of the rubies again and then back to where my hands were about to touch the water. I was able to scoop some water into my hands, but thinking that the water was better to be left alone I opened my hands a bit and let it fall between my hands. I turned around, with my hands cupped and said, ¡°Sorry I couldn¡¯t do it. I don¡¯t know how I was able to do it the other times. I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°BULL SHIT!! I saw my take two scoops and mean to take them. So don¡¯t sit there and tell me you can¡¯t do it cause I know you can.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t¡± I sighed. He raised his arm and this time the man hit me on the side of the head with the metal pipe with all of his strength behind it. With my entire head feeling like it was going to explode from the now throbbing pain inside of my skull, my body became weak as I fell onto my side. My brain did not feel like it was working anymore, nothing did, but I would make out the fait outline of the man walking away before I closed my eyes. All I could see was red every direction I looked. It wasn¡¯t a deep red, nor the colour red you see on a faded flag, but more of a red that is held in a jewel. A ruby maybe¡­ yeah ruby red surrounded me. I walked up to one of the walls to try and touch it and make sure that this was real, but I got something even better. When I saw my reflection against the wall I was surrounded my things that I loved the most and things that I didn¡¯t even dream of loving yet. Whatever this reality was I looked so happy in it, and knew that if I ever got out of this cave those things are what I would be fighting for. I reached out to try and just feel one of thing that surrounded my reflection, but as I was able to make contact with it everything went black. I opened my eyes and I was back laying on the floor next to the lake. Slowly sitting up I realized that even though it probably wasn¡¯t the best move that I could have made, it was the smartest one I¡¯ve made in a long time. All light was gone from the cave; however, the rubies and lake were still twinkling from light rays. A weird filled my nostrils, ¡®smoke, no that can¡¯t be right¡¯ I thought. But that thought was soon interrupted when I saw a roaring fire heading towards me. I jumped up in fear and covered my mouth before I started coughing. Running over to the giant rock, I held onto during the small earthquake, I knew that it could not protect me from the fire. The only thing that could really protect me was to jump into the lake, but that was not an option of me. Once I got behind the giant rock I formed a ball with my body and watched as the rock protected me from the flames. After burning every possible thing that stood in its path, that wasn¡¯t rock, the fire began to turn to embers. Just the embers alone lit up the floor with enough light for me to make my way out of this section of the cave. The tiny part that I had to basically push my way through was now covered with smoke. Moving through it my eyes began to burn yet tear up. I got the end of the line and exited the cave when my eyes found the source of the smoke. The entire forest, that was hiding this cave, was now burned to the ground and covered with ashes that nothing, not even berries, could grow from. It was a horrible sight to see. Small puffs of smoke rose from the destroyed trees. The tree that were still standing looked like they were ripped of live and would never be able to start a new one. Having a heart of a hero I knew I had to put an end to this terrible destruction and cause it from ever happening again. Chapter 2: The Forest I started my way through the darkened forest stepping over broken trees and roots that were trying to get life back into them. When I was surrounded by burnt trees something caught my eye. Underneath a tree, that was laying on the ground, was a shiny object. I crouched down and after a better looked at it I realized that it was just a rock with a small piece of metal imbedded into the top of it. As I stood up I dropped the rock and kept walking. There were trees blocking my path making my way through the forest feel like an obstacle course. Slowly but surely I made it through the bundle of trees that were intertwined with each other from the massive fire. When I reached the far side of the small area of trees I saw something shiny coming from the ground out of the corner of my eye. Being curious I walked over it and picked it up. ¡°This is the same rock from before, but how could that be?¡± I thought. Thinking that my mind was just playing a game with me I dropped the rock, where I found it, and started to walk through the next section of forest. The walk was more of the same, avoiding dead trees hoping that nothing would break and fall down crushing me in the process. As if someone came and purposely cleared the area after the fire went out, I came to a 1 mile radius area that was covered in a blanket of black. There was no a single tree, root or even branch to be seen. Feeling sorry for the ground I dropped to my knees and brushed my hand along the ground. Something didn¡¯t feel right about the ashes though. The texture of very different from what ashes should feel like, instead of lightly brushing off my hand like sand the black substance felt like sticky chalk. I stood up and slowly turned in a circle looking for anything that would explain this weird part of the forest, but nothing stood out. Once I faced the same direction that I started in something shiny broke through the blanket of blanket of black in front of me. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. I cautiously walked over to it, not sure what to except. The source of the light wasn¡¯t clear enough to make out so I fell on my knees and began to dig with my hands. Scrapping small pieces of the chalk substance into my hand with each handful my hands became layered in blackness, and soon I couldn¡¯t even make up the scars that I had on the back of my hand since I was a child. When I reached the object my hands were throbbing in pain. ¡°This rock again¡± I signed in disappointment. I stood up tired from digging, only to have my hands and knees with the black substance clung to them. I hung my head ashamed that I spent a significant amount of time digging only to be face to face with an object that I didn¡¯t even want in the first place. Slowly I walked back to the spot that I was before and held the rock in the palm studying and trying to understand its relevance to me. The suns light gracefully danced off the top of the rock casting different shaped onto the ground. When I finally figured that the strange images on the ground were coming from the rock I turned it in different directions until they were all lined up with each other. After much effort a box appeared on the ground in front me, with 7 little dots inside of it. Not fully understanding what it meant I placed the rock on the ground, making sure the dots still appeared on the ground, and then I stepped inside of the box. Chapter 3: The Wizard Purple light beams began to rise upwards from the seven points and shot towards the sky. At the top they all created a point, which then cause the area around me to become a giant box that I was now trapped in. I raised my hand and gently tried to touch the walls that now surrounded me; however, the second that my hand touched I was shot back towards the middle. Suddenly the ground below me began to rumble causing the part that I was laying on to break apart from the rest. I could see the ground crack around my body, creating a circle, and before I knew it I was falling. Fearing for my life I formed a ball and covered my eyes until the falling stopped. Terrified screams escaped my mouth, but I still refused to look up, because I knew that I would never be able to return to the life I had before. When the ground finally stopped, the bang was so forceful that it knocked me out of the fetal position and caused me to lay flat on my side. Still not wanting to open my eyes, I peeked through my fingers and saw nothing but dark brown dirt surrounding me. The odd thing was that it was as if it was behind an invisible wall, I pushed and pushed against it but not even a speck of dirt fell. Just then a door appeared out of nowhere where my hands were pushing on the dirt. It didn¡¯t look like anything special, it did seem odd that there would be a door underground, but I opened it despite the voices in my head telling me not to. Reaching for the handle I looked up and only saw a small hole that showed a small piece of a bright blue sky above me. Taking a deep breath, I threw open the door and walked through it. The moment my body was on the other side of the door it slammed me behind me causing a wind pushing me slightly forward. A dim light began to make its way towards me until the entire room was lit up. I was in a cave with no way out. At first I was afraid and started hyperventilating; however, when I managed to calm my heart down I realized that this cave looked a lot like the one that I was in before and all I had to do was keep calm as I found a way out of it. I closed my eyes as I took deep breaths to calm myself down and when I opened them the fear was gone. Making my way through the cave I started looking for anything that I could use to escape. ¡®Rocks¡­nope. Sticks¡­nope. Water¡­maybe, but this will help me survive more than anything.¡¯ Wait water, maybe this water is the same as last time and it will give me strength to get out of here. As I made my way over to the pool of water something stopped me, it was as if something was holding me back. Looking behind me I couldn¡¯t see anything, in fact everything seemed normal. Just as I spun back around a tall man stood in front of me. He was dressed in dark clothes and on the heavier side. ¡°What you doing here? Nobody is supposed to be here.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t know, honestly I don¡¯t even know how I got here.¡± ¡°Well isn¡¯t that convenient. Coming to the home of the most powerful wizard in the world and you don¡¯t know how you got here. How did you enter my enchanted door?¡± ¡°One minute I was walking through the woods and the next thing I knew I was being pulled underground. As for the door I didn¡¯t know it was enchanted, I just turned the knob and it opened.¡± ¡°Interesting¡­ Are you a witch? How long have you been studying magic?¡± ¡°Whoa there. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about, there is no such thing as magic.¡± ¡°Sure there is. See.¡± Just then he rolled his arms around each other three times and when he touched his hands to his side a golden stand appeared and on top of it was my most treasured possession. A locket that my parents gave me on my first birthday. My eyes began to fill with tears because I haven¡¯t seen it since I was old enough to put it into my own safety deposit box so that nobody would steal it. ¡°It¡¯s funny something this small can make someone fill up with so much emotion¡± With pain in my voice I said, ¡°Please don¡¯t touch it, that¡¯s the only thing I have left of my parents.¡± This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°I have a proposition for you, I¡¯ll give this back to you if you tell me how you go in here.¡± ¡°I told you already I don¡¯t know. It just kind of happened.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s the best you¡¯ve got then I¡¯m afraid you will never see this necklace again.¡± ¡°Please!! I¡¯ll do anything to get that back.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already told you what you need to do, and since you can¡¯t provide me with what I want then I¡¯m afraid I have other business to attend to.¡± The next thing I knew he and the golden stand vanished in the blink of an eye. My heart felt as if it stopped seeing the most important thing of mine disappear right in front of my eyes. Being weak with pain my knees dropped to the ground and I began crying harder than I ever have before. A single tear slipped down my cheek, down my hands and landed on the ground. With this single drop a black hole was able to open in front of me. The wizard came back with his arm crossed and said with a tone of anger in his voice, ¡°If you don¡¯t have magic in you, I want you to explain how you were able to do that.¡± In the middle of crying I sniffed and said, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not good enough. Not anyone can open my enchanted door let alone make a vortex of destruction with a single tear.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t mean to cause any harm. Please I just want my necklace back.¡± The wizard bent down beside me, while he placed a hand on my shoulder his voice became soft as he said, ¡°You really don¡¯t know what you are do you?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°You are meant to save the world from great evil. You weren¡¯t brought here by accident.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. Can I please just have my necklace back?¡± The wizard reached into his pocket and handed me my locket back. The moment the locket was back in my hands the vortex disappeared and my heart filled with joy when I saw the necklace in front of me again. Not wanting it out of my sight again I quickly put it around my neck and hugged the wizard for giving it back to me. ¡°You know why I did that?¡± ¡°No and I don¡¯t care. I¡¯m just happy to have my parents back in my heart.¡± He grabbed my hands and as he looked into my eyes he said, ¡°I did that because taking away the thing that you love the most gave you the motivation you needed to unleash your true power. Just remember that next time you come across any magical being, they will do anything in their power to destroy the one thing most precious to you.¡± I crossed my hands over my locket and said, ¡°Trust me I am never letting this get stolen again.¡± Glancing forward I saw a small tunnel that lead someone where so I turned towards the wizard and asked, ¡°Where does that lead?¡± as I pointed my finger towards the tunnel. Knowing exactly where I was pointing the wizard kept his eyes on me as he responded, ¡°Inside the small tunnel that you seek holds great evil, but on the other side holds greatness. It will test both your strength and knowledge. Courage is the true key to get through; however, that alone can¡¯t help you in the darkest times. In those times your powers will be the only thing that will allow you to survive.¡± ¡°How do I know what my power is?¡± ¡°That you will find out when you need them the most.¡± I threw my hands in the air because this so called wizard was not making any sense. Not even making eye contact when I walked past him, I walked towards the tunnel and crawled into it once I reached it. Chapter 4: The Tunnel Once there was no light behind me I signed in relief. The tunnel was now so tight against my body that it was hard for me to breathe. With only just the motivation to get to the other side I made myself crawl as far as my body could carry me. Finally, I collapsed from exhaustion. My lungs could no longer get air into them, my body felt heavy from the weakness and the only thing I could see where twinkling stars. Laying down on the ground I closed my eyes and let my body drift into a deep sleep. I was in a dark place and the only light was coming from my hand. ¡®Wait my hand is producing light, how is that possible?¡¯ A white light covered my entire left hand. As soon as I closed it; however, the light stopped. I opened up my right hand multiple times but nothing happened. Thinking it was the power that the wizard talked about I raised my hand and took aim for something in front of me. But nothing happened my hand just stayed solid white. I tired different hand movements to make my hand brighter: shaking it didn¡¯t work, putting my other hand behind it didn¡¯t work, and waving it certainly didn¡¯t work. A short heavy breath of frustration come out and suddenly a magical ball of light began to hover above my hand. I looked at it curiously just then it exploded filling the entire dark place fill with twinkling light. I was surround by dirt again but something was different this time, instead of a door there was a wooden hole that had a hand imprinted into it. I walked over to it and carefully placed my left hand into the hole. Just then light traveled from the hole and moved along the wall exposing what looked like ancient writing along it, it looked so beautiful. I took my hand out of the hole to see what the letters were saying; however, as soon as I took it out the walls became bare again. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. My hand now seemed dimmer than it was before. I walked over the wall, shone my light onto the wall but nothing appeared. Just dirt. The hole was the only way to see the beautiful writing again, so I went over to the hole and placed my hand onto it once again. The walls then exposed the writing and when I looked up it looked like stars were dancing on the ceiling. ¡®Stars!!¡¯ Suddenly I felt something grabbing onto my shoulders and shaking me. My head rocked back and forth with emptiness, I didn¡¯t want to leave this place so I held on as much as I could. I kept my hand on the hole and watched as the power in my hand was being absorbed. It was no use I could feel my lungs filling up with air ever so slowly, as if something was trying to bring me back to life. Chapter 5: Linley My eyes open slowly and I see someone kneeling over me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry if this seems a bit odd, I saw your hand glowing and whenever someone¡¯s hand glows in these parts it¡¯s never a good sign. It means they¡¯re about to die, I only meant to save your life.¡± ¡°Thank you but I¡¯m fine, see I¡¯m alive.¡± ¡°You were unconscious for at least 30 minutes. At least that¡¯s when I found you, it could have been longer.¡± I leaned on my elbows and said once more, ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± My head felt dizzy and I fell backwards to the ground. My head began to pound. ¡°Here I got some water for you, drink up it will make you feel better. Trust me.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± I reached out for the canteen full of water and started to drink it. The water was gone before I knew it. I wanted more. I needed more. I gave the canteen back to Linley and asked, ¡°Can I please have some more.¡± ¡°As long as you promise not to move while I¡¯m gone.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± He got onto his feet and started walking away. I swiftly sat up and looked at my left hand, everything seemed to be normal. When Linley returned I grabbed the canteen from his hands and gulped every drop I could. I handed it back to him and at the moment our hands touched. Due to an electric shock, I sharply pulled my hand back. ¡°Ow, why did you do that?¡± ¡°I swear that¡¯s never happened to me before.¡± I looked at my hand again but nothing was out of the ordinary so I reached out again and touched one finger to his hand. ¡°Ow, okay you¡¯re doing this. I don¡¯t know why but you¡¯re doing this.¡± Just then his right hand began to glow white, I looked down at my left hand and it began to glow white as well. ¡°Uh oh, this isn¡¯t good.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°When two people with the ability to create sunlight from their hands come into contact with each other bad things will happen.¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°So that¡¯s why you said that people with glowing hands in these parts is never a good sign.¡± I paused before I asked the question that¡¯s been on my mind since I first saw my hand glow. ¡°What does this power allow us to do?¡± ¡°It allows us to cover the world in light when there is complete darkness.¡± ¡°That seems kind of boring, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Well not only that, if used properly it can bring light to other people.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°For instance you. When you were unconscious I was able to fill your ¡®dark world¡¯ with light and bring you back to life enough to save your life.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s like healing magic then?¡± ¡°I guess so.¡± ¡°Lame.¡± I got onto my feet and began to walk away. But there was something holding me back, like an energy source of some kind connecting me to Linley. Suddenly a thundering sound was bursting through the dirt above us causing small pieces of dirt to fall on my head. Just when I looked down at my feet the strange man threw his hands against my body and forcefully pushed me against the ground. The air filled with dirt and when the dirt in the air settle Linley was on top of me. I placed my hands on his shoulder blades and pushed him off of me. Between coughs I said, ¡°What¡¯d you do that for?¡± He didn¡¯t say anything, instead he just pointed where I was previously standing. A giant dirt pile covered the ground. ¡°Again you didn¡¯t have to save me. But thanks.¡± When he got on his feet he stuck out his hand to help me up. I knew better than to touch him again, I definitely didn¡¯t want to get shocked after almost getting crushed by a dirt pile. So I rejected his hand and stood up on my own. Chapter 6: Troll We started walking throughout the tunnel. There was no light to be seen yet we could see where we were going. I stopped and asked, ¡°Do you know where we¡¯re going?¡± ¡°Yeah there is an exit just up ahead we should be there in no time.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± We kept walking, my eyes would glance over to him every so often to see if it was it was as awkward for him as it was for me. I didn¡¯t know this man at all, but since he was determined to walk with me to the exit it was only fair of me to start a conversation with him. ¡°So you seem to know about your powers quite well.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Well I was just wondering; do you know anything about all magic or just the magic that you¡¯re familiar with?¡± ¡°I know about all magic, actually since we¡¯ll be walking for a while I could tell you where magic comes from.¡± ¡®If this is the knowledge that the wizard was talking about I should probably know as much as I can about magic so I can pass the test.¡¯ ¡°Sure.¡± Linley took a deep breath and began telling the story, ¡°Legend says that a man was walking along a road and found a stone lying next to the side of the road.¡± I stopped walking and picked up a small stone then turned to him and said, ¡°Like this one.¡± Grabbing the stone Linley said, ¡°Kind of, but instead of an ordinary stone like this the stone spoke to him. So Linley picked it then it started to melt across his hands.¡± Linley then dropped the stone onto the ground we walked a few steps more. Just then we started to hear a rumble behind us, we sharply turned around but nothing was there so we turned back around and started walking again. The rumbling started again, only louder and when we turned around this time a giant troll stood before us made out of complete stone. ¡°AHHHH!!!¡± We both shouted as we ran away from it. But it was no use the troll was right behind us. When he caught up to us he grabbed me around my body and lifted me into the air. Quickly thinking Linley ran and grabbed hold of the troll¡¯s arm that was holding me and held on for dear life. The troll saw Linley and flicked him off with his other hand sending him flying to a nearby wall. As soon as Linley hit the wall he became unconscious and laid still on the ground. I would have been screaming but I was too struck with fear to be making any kind of noise. With a wide open mouth the troll brought me closer and closer to him. I wiggled as much as I could to escape but it was no use the troll¡¯s grip was too tight around me. Suddenly I felt almost like a jolt of energy traveling through my body and I could feel my hand glowing. I focused all of the energy into my left hand and just then the troll dropped me to the ground. It was a far drop but I was still able to move afterwards. I ran towards Linley and started to tap his back to see if I could get a response from him. His body was still unconscious so I grabbed his arm, placed it around my shoulder and half carried him behind a big rock so that we could both hide. At least for a while. After a few minutes Linley opened his eyes and asked what had happened. ¡°A giant troll came to life, flicked you off of his arm and threw you against a wall.¡± With a bit of a fuzzy memory Linley asked, ¡°Weren¡¯t you in the troll¡¯s grasp? How did you escape?¡± Being unsure how it happened myself I tried to explain it the best I could. ¡°Ummm well I thought I was going to be eaten by the troll when energy suddenly ran through my body. Somehow I could feel my hand glow so I just made the energy I was feeling move to my hand and next thing I knew he dropped me.¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. With a shocked expression on his face Linley said, ¡°I¡¯m surprised you were able to transfer energy like that, that takes years to master you must be something great.¡± ¡°Or just extremely lucky.¡± Linley smirked at my answer and then asked, ¡°Where is the troll now?¡± ¡°On the other side of this rock.¡± Linley peeked his head out from behind the rock and saw the troll standing there waiting for us to come out of hiding, since there was nowhere we could go. Linley leaned against the rock and said, ¡°Okay so here¡¯s the plan, you see his right shoulder?¡± I leaned over Linley, pushing my upper body up against his, and peeked out at the troll. On top of the trolls right shoulder was a small patch of grass. When I leaned behind the rock again Linley had a red face as if he was embarrassed that a strange woman was pressed against him. ¡°Okay so what¡¯s the plan?¡± ¡°One of us has to get to his shoulder and use our power to burn the grass, that¡¯s the only way to defeat it.¡± Pausing for a bit Linley then said, ¡°Since you don¡¯t have a handle on your power yet I shall be the one to burn his shoulder.¡± ¡°What do you mean I don¡¯t have a handle on my power yet? I was able to use an experienced technique wasn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Yes but that isn¡¯t the point. You may know how to transfer energy throughout your body but there is much more to our power than that.¡± I sat crossed legged on the ground and folded my arms in anger. ¡°Then what do you expect me to do then?¡± Linley held his hand in front of me and said, ¡°Just sit tight I¡¯ll be back for you as soon as I¡¯m finished with the troll.¡± Then he jumped from behind the rock and ran up to the troll. The troll didn¡¯t think much of it and grabbed him around his body. I watched silently as Linley was being brought closer and closer to the troll¡¯s open mouth. I wanted to scream out but I did not want to troll to get me too. Linley¡¯s head jerked back and his entire body went stiff, just then I saw a dim light coming from between the troll¡¯s fingers. The troll loosened his grip on Linley and he was able to escape. He lifted himself out with between the troll¡¯s fingers and ran up his arm towards his right shoulder. The troll took his free hand and brushed Linley off of his shoulder. Thinking Linley was off of his body the troll began to move and look around for me. Little did he know Linley let go of the troll and was now climbing on his back towards his right shoulder. When the troll slowly passed me I saw Linley and yelled ¡°GOOOOO!!!!!¡± The troll heard me and quickly turned around, Linley almost lost his grip but managed to hold on. As soon as the troll saw me I was petrified with fear. I curled up in the ball and trembled in fear. Just then Linley was on top of the troll''s shoulder, the troll was too focused on me to even feel Linley. Linley raised his glowing hand and touched the troll''s exposed shoulder. The troll screamed, as if it was in tremendous pain, and it caused the dirt above us to come crashing down. Linley jumped off of the troll''s shoulder and ran towards me. He grabbed my hand and pulled me with him; as he kept running at full speed. The crashing had finally stopped, but due to the amount of dirt that fell we had to find a new way out of the tunnel. Chapter 7: Ancient Story In exhaustion we both sat down and took turns drinking from the canteen that was half full. Between taking heavy breaths and drinking I asked, ¡°What else did the magic legend say about magic?¡± After drinking the last of the water Linley continued his story, ¡°Well next the boy came across a giant bolder that blocked his path so he went up to it and moved it only using one hand. In shock at what he had done the boy ran to his village and asked to see the king immediately. After hearing his story the king told the boy that he was chosen to be the beginning of magic. Not believing a word that the king said the boy ran away and never used his power again. That is until a great evil attacked the village that he was now living in. During the battle however the boy got ripped apart and his pieces were scattered around the world and thus creating the elements.¡± Linley paused and looked at my lost expression before continuing, ¡°Each person who is chosen only has access to two of these elements and if they train hard enough they too can possess the same great strength that the boy once had. Throughout the years many have tried and failed in the process. They would use both of their powers together before either of them were developed properly.¡± I looked down at my left hand and asked, ¡°How do you know when the powers are fully developed?¡± Linley took an uneasy sigh and responded, ¡°One can never truly know when their powers are fully developed until it is too late.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re telling me that if I use my powers before they are developed to their fullest I could die?¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°That¡¯s stupid. It just means that people aren¡¯t training properly and therefore basically going into battle blinded.¡± ¡°This is just a legend so don¡¯t worry about the details too much. With your strength your powers will be strong in no time.¡± I sighed and then started walking in a random direction. Linley stopped me and told me that this is where he found me before so we were close to water. In no time at all we were at the small underground lake where he filled up his canteen before. Linley filled up his canteen and began to chug from it. When it was empty it was my turn to fill it up, nevertheless when I got close to the lake a large ripple, followed by a few small ones, which were coming from the middle of the lake. I slowly stood up and backed away, not taking my eyes off of the lake. With my only focus on the lake Linley appeared behind me and touched me. As I jumped in surprised I made a squealing noise. ¡°What¡¯s going on you seem to be on edge about something.¡± ¡°It might just be me seeing things but I swear something is in the middle of the lake and trying to come out.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous there¡¯s nothing there.¡± He walked towards the lake and saw ripples coming from the middle as well. I backed up to me and said, ¡°Well whatever it is we¡¯ll be ready this time.¡± Chapter 8: The Crocodile Creature Linley and I stood there watching the lake with a determination in our eyes. When the ripples in the lake began to calm down we stood there in fear because we knew that when we least expected it a monster would jump out and attack us but the longer we stood there the more we began to realize that nothing was after us and it was all in our imaginations. We looked at each other and shrugged and if saying to each other, ¡®if nothing''s coming out of the lake mind as well get some water while we can.¡¯ I picked up the canteen, that I had dropped earlier, and started to walk back to the lake. Being a bit hesitant at first I only took baby steps, however; after I gained some courage I began to walk normally and. Once I reached the lake I bent over to fill up the canteen and the same thing happened. Ripples began to form in the middle of the lake and kept getting bigger and bigger the longer I stayed near the water. Finally, when he couldn''t take it anymore Linley came up behind me, wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled backwards with him. When we went back about ten feet the ripples stopped and the lake became calm again. He held me in front of him and said, "Clearly something doesn''t want us near that lake so we''re going to have to find somewhere else to get water in this place." Looking into his eyes I said, "And how long will that be? No, I''m going to get water from this lake." I forced his arms off of me and ran towards the lake. "JASMINE NO!!!!!" I didn''t listen to him and just kept running. I quickly squatted down and scooped up as much water into the canteen as I could; nevertheless, the moment I was about to stand up water turned midnight black and began to crash against my feet. The next thing I knew a giant creature had risen from the lake and soaked every piece of clothing I was wearing. Looking up I was instantly studded with fear, it was if my entire body had become paralyzed. Linley came up behind me, but instead of wrapping his arms around me, he grabbed my hand and pulled me to where he was previously standing. "What were you thinking? I told you not to go" Unable to speak the only thing that could escape my mouth was, "uhh...ummm...I..." My body became tense and my eyes became big when I saw the creature gliding out of the lake. "What''s wrong?" When Linley turned around he saw exactly what I was so frightened of. The crocodile creature had black beady eyes, and razor sharp long claws that could easily rip a human in half. Its entire body was covered in black scales; however when it stood on its two back legs the black turned into a deep green colour. The jaw contained rows of sharp white teeth and no matter how you looked at it there was an evil smile across its lips. The front legs were miniature compared to the back legs that were now at full length and made the creature look nine feet tall. On the creatures back there was a tall that neither scales nor coating like its stomach had, it was as if it was its only point of weakness. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Before I could look at the creature anymore my hand was being pulled away and I was forced to run to a wall which held a tiny crack that just allowed Linley and myself to fit. Heavily breathing Linley asked, "Are you alright?" "Yeah I''m fine." As I answered him I intently watched the creature as it came crawling towards us. Its nose was moving in the air and I knew it was only a moment of seconds before it found us. The ground shook more and more with every step that it took until everything went silent. A little too silent. Right as I turned around to say something to Linley something wrapped around my body and pulled me out of the crack. "Ahhhhhh HELP ME!!!!" Linley grabbed both of my hands and began to pull as hard as he could. It was no use. The creature now had Linley and myself in its grip and was pulling us up into the air before we either of us could even catch a breath. Because of how he got flicked off last time Linley knew better than to let go, even if it took all of his strength to hold onto me. Once Linley was over the creatures back he jumped off and slid down its scaly back. With how his face became when he hit the ground I could only imagine how painful it was. The creature tossed me up into the air as if to eat me whole, but before I made my decent Linley made his right hand glow and touched its tail. The creature roared in pain and thankfully moved its head just before I came into contact with it. Screaming in terror I refused to look down and closed my eyes as I fell. Linley ran at full speed around the creatures¡¯ body and had caught me in his arms just before I hit the ground. The moment I hit his arm he popped me out of his hold and onto the ground where I stood up in shock. By the time the creature had realized where we were it flung its tail at full force and rammed us both against the wall. My head threw back hitting the wall at a painful speed and my back felt like something had pierced through it. The side of my body crashed onto the ground and I just laid there holding my side as dirt began to pile on top of me. Through the small hole in front of my face I could see Linley fighting the creature. At first he touched his glowing hand to the tail again and when the creature lowered enough he climbed his way up the scales on the back strategically placing every foot and hand so it could not shake him off. Once he finally made it to the head he stood on top of it, made a ball of light burst from his hands and before I saw what happened next my eyes shut from the pain in my side. In my head time seemed to be standing still and I was floating in an area full of white fluffy clouds. However, the next thing I knew Linley woke me up and was covered in deep green blood and small bones. Chapter 9: Aftermath Linley maneuvered my arm around his shoulder and slowly lifted me to my feet until my eyes filled with tears and I screamed with pain. "OW!!!! I can''t move I¡¯m sorry, there seems to be something in my side." Linley laid me back down, this time on my back, brushed off the dirt that covered my clothing and lifted my shirt to see how bad my injury was. "There''s nothing there. On either side. You have to tell me where it hurts so I can help you." I placed my hand where the pain was the strongest, but no matter how many times he looked Linley would always say, "Nothing¡¯s there." He scooped me into his arms and carried me to the lake. It had now cleared of all blackness and was as beautiful as before. We continued into the water and once it got to his waste Linley placed my feet into the water so that I was able to stand up and slowly took off my shirt. "I''m going to use this to wash your body is that alright?" I nodded in agreement and just stood there as still as I could. Linley carefully placed my shirt in the water and when it was soaked enough he rolled it into a ball and squeezed it onto different parts of my upper body. Starting with my head and slowly making his way down to my just below my bra in the front and near my lower back on my other side. When he was finished he soaked up water with my shirt again but this time he had it flat in his hands as he gently wiped downwards towards my hips bones. Once Linley finished he rung out my shirt enough that it was soaking wet and put it back on me. "Is that better?" Looking down at my side I answered, "Yep, thanks." "Wow I think that''s the first thanks you said to me and actually meant." "Well you aren''t going to get another one if you''re that excited about it." We both drug ourselves out of the lake, filled up the canteen and kept walking. There was silence between us for a long time all that could be heard was dirt falling every so often. When I couldn''t take the silence anymore I asked, "How were you able to make that ball come out of your hands?" "It¡¯s actually really simple once you are able to transfer energy throughout your body. First you have to allow yourself to allow the energy to flow through your body, which you can already do, next you have to focus the energy into both of your hands simultaneously and then picture a ball forming. Once that is mastered you just have practice forming the ball of light so that it is hot enough to burn an enemy and then you''ll be able to use it." ¡°Before you found me, I was able to make a small ball of light hover over my hand.¡± ¡°Wow, you really are extraordinary if you can do that already. Do you remember how you did it?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Well that means you won¡¯t take much training since you already contain great strength inside of yourself.¡± Linley reached for my hand and said, ¡°Clear your mind that¡¯s the key.¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Easy for you to say, you¡¯ve done a million times.¡± I sighed, closed my eyes and tried to imagine my hand being covered in a white light. When I opened my eyes nothing happened. ¡°I cleared my mind like you said.¡± ¡°Here.¡± Linley took my left hand, cupped his hands around it and said, ¡°Imagine my magic flowing into you, and when you feel like you have a grasp on it push it back into me.¡± I closed my eyes again and for fun I imagined that I was an evil being trying to absorb magic from my victim. When that didn¡¯t work I tried to allow myself to feel his energy coming out of his hands and force it to come into contact with mine. But everything I tried failed. My face began to show the frustration stirring up inside of me. Linley let go of my hand and in a calm voice said, ¡°Why don¡¯t we try something different. Everyone learns to control their magic a different way. We know that you can transfer your magic through your body when you are under attack. So I¡¯m going to attack you and all you have to do is try your best to fend me off.¡± Linley backed up as far as he could and when he felt he was far enough away he charged at me with both of his hands glowing by his sides. I didn¡¯t know what to do. ¡®There¡¯s no way I can clear my mind in a situation like this¡¯ When he was just about arm¡¯s length from me I stepped aside and let him run past me. Nevertheless, when he was behind me he grabbed me tightly around my shoulder and waist. No matter how much I struggled I couldn¡¯t free myself from his grip. With nothing to lose I became as still as I could and shut my eyes. I imagined that I was somewhere else, happy, and free from danger. The next thing I knew I could feel hot energy flowing through my body, hoping that I could control it, I thought as hard as I could about the energy flowing into my hands. Even though it only flowed to one, and took most of my strength, it was enough to shock Linley and it cause him to let go of me. ¡°Excellent.¡± He said as he patted me on the back. ¡°Now since it¡¯s still fresh in your mind, do you remember how you made that happen?¡± ¡°Sort of. I removed myself from the situation and then my entire body became clear almost as if¡­¡± ¡°As if your mind and soul became one?¡± ¡°Nah it was almost as if by clearing my head I was able to see the situation more clearly and thus defeat my enemy.¡± ¡°Now that you know how to control your magic you must work to strength it. You are strong at the moment; however, you are not strong enough to defeat great evil if and when it decides to attack. You need practice. Before you try attacking anyone I want you to try and make a ball of light hover over your hand, like you said happened before. Once you make one hover both hands, at the same time, we¡¯ll move on." Chapter 10: Training ¡°I have been at this for hours can I stop now? Clearly I¡¯m doing something wrong.¡± ¡°No you must keep practicing, that¡¯s the only way you¡¯ll get better. Here try again, aim your hand at the wall and try to look at the markings I¡¯ve created on the wall for you. Only your magic will allow you to read the hidden words.¡± One more time I close my eyes, raise my left hand up to the wall and imagine energy flowing through my body. But I can¡¯t feel anything. ¡°Clear your mind, imagine you¡¯re somewhere else, calm your body and your mind will follow.¡± ¡®That¡¯s a load of crap¡¯ but I convince myself to try one final time. I close my eyes, and I imagine the energy flowing through me, but when I open my eyes my hand is normal. ¡°I give up, if it hasn¡¯t worked now it¡¯s never going to work.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be so hard on yourself. You can do it. But you¡¯re right your brain is exhausted why don¡¯t we stop for now and find somewhere to sleep for the night.¡± Linley and I walk through the area, looking for a safe place to sleep, when we found an indent that both of us could fit in we instantly fell asleep. During the night I kept tossing and turning because I couldn¡¯t wrap my head around my so called magical power. It was making me too frustrated to go back to sleep. There were a couple of times throughout the night that I accidently hit Linley. I decided that since I wasn¡¯t going back to sleep anytime soon I mind as well practice my magic. So I quietly crawled out of the hole and went back to the place where I was practicing before. I found the spot on the wall that I was focusing on before. I shut everything out of my vision and imagined that I was somewhere peaceful. My entire body instantly went calm, it was as if I was floating- while still being on the ground. Suddenly I could feel heat rising up and filling up my entire body, this was the energy that I¡¯ve been trying to grab a hold of all day. ¡®Okay now that I have it, it¡¯s time to practice aiming it.¡¯ I carefully guided the energy throughout my body, eventually leading to my left hand. With excitement I watched my hand as it was magically covered in a white light. I raise my hand, walked over to the wall where the words ¡°Congratulations, now turn around¡± were displayed. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I cautiously turned around with my left hand raised, Linley was standing there nearly scaring my half to death. I hit my right hand to my chest and said, after a deep breath, ¡°Oh my goodness, you scared me. I almost released my magic at you.¡± ¡°Haha don¡¯t be silly you can¡¯t do that, but I can see that you can now control your magic without being in a fight.¡± ¡°How did you know I was here?¡± ¡°I felt you leave so I followed you and watch you quietly to see if you could control your magic with a little push.¡± ¡°You call making me so frustrated that I can¡¯t sleep a little push?¡± ¡°Yes, just like everyone with this ability your frustration is the key to allowing you to clear your mind completely.¡± I really wanted to slap Linley across the face as hard as I could, but I resisted. Instead I focused on my hand and allowed the light to escape from my hand instead. I turned around to the wall and tried to repeat the same process. I cleared my head and felt the energy fill my body up once more; however, this time I attempted to make the energy flow into my right hand. It made it as far as my elbow before I was too exhausted to guide it any further. I tried again and again, but with every time I tired the energy got further and further away from my right hand. Linley finally grabbed my shoulder and said, ¡°Common let¡¯s go back to sleep, you took tired. A goodnight sleep will make you stronger.¡± Giving up I sighed and followed Linley back to the place where we were sleeping before. Linley laid flat on his back and once he was comfortable I placed my head on his chest and was peaceful for the rest of the night. Chapter 12: The Eternal Door of Souls In the morning I woke up to my left arm tightly wrapped around Linley, as if holding onto him for dear life. When I lifted my head I saw that Linley was still sleeping so I lifted my arm off of him and crawled away to allow him to sleep. Linley lifted his head as I was leaving and said, ¡°Hey. You don¡¯t have to leave I¡¯ve been up for hours, you just had me in your grip so tight that I wasn¡¯t able to move until you woke up.¡± With a smile I said, ¡°I feel asleep with my head on you, and I guess cuddling you just seemed like the next best thing.¡± Linley didn¡¯t know how to react so without a word he crawled out of the hole and stood there until I came out. ¡°Ready to practice some more?¡± As a joke I bent my head a bit and said, ¡°Yes sir.¡± But Linley didn¡¯t react at all. ¡°Alright today we are going to work on you transferring your energy to your right hand. I will only guide you when you absolutely need it, from what I saw last night the best thing I can do is sit back and allow you to discover your magic on your own.¡± I walked where I couldn¡¯t see Linley and made myself as calm as I could. There was no delay, when I closed my eyes the heat began to fill up my upper body. I guided it down to my left hand without any problems. Thinking as hard as I could I imagined the light crawling its way up my left arm, across my shoulders and making its way down my right arm. Before I had to give up the light made it down to my elbow. I was forced to let go and to start again. I ran on a spot for a bit, shook my arms and bend my head from side to side, trying to relax myself as much as possible. Taking a deep breath out I closed my eyes and allowed myself to melt. My energy filled me up again, I guided it straight to my right hand since my left hand was the easy part. Trying to make the light go past my elbow took all of my strength, my brain started to pound in pain, but I still forced the light. I could feel my nose being to bleed and my hands began to shake, but before I could force myself any further Linley came up behind me and grabbed my hands. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Stop. If you push yourself any further you¡¯re going to kill yourself.¡± ¡°I know that I can do this. So let go of me.¡± ¡°No.¡± With that one word that Linley spoke I knew that he was serious. I dropped my hands and gave up on practicing my magic for a while. ¡°Well what should be do if you don¡¯t want to me to practice?¡± ¡°Find the exit.¡± I glared at him, but he didn¡¯t respond he just started walking and it was my job to keep up with him. ¡°So you say that the exit is just up ahead but we¡¯ve been traveling for a day and a half and haven¡¯t found an exit.¡± ¡°If you know your way it is a flash to find.¡± ¡°Do you know your way?¡± ¡°Ummm¡­ it¡¯s somewhere around here.¡± ¡°You mean we¡¯ve been walking around with no clue as to where we¡¯re going?¡± ¡°No.¡± Looking around Linley said, ¡°We just have to find the eternal door of souls and that is our way out.¡± Being intrigued I asked, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Linley turned and started to explain while looking around, as if distracted by other thoughts. "Basically it''s a door that...allows you to pass through...if you''re a good soul...WATCH OUT!!!" Chapter 11: The Myth I quickly looked up and saw a beast flying through the air, diving straight towards us. I ducked as the beast flew past us, barely missing my head with the white spikes attached to its brown tail. I stood up and stared as it landed on a giant bolder. Its wings were brown and at least ten feet wide each. They were transparent, so it was easy to see each bone within them. They were attached to a great brown body that was now crouching so proud. The head was narrow but long. Big black horns could be seen on top of its head, which each pointed outwards. The eyes were yellow and full of fury towards us. The nose was long and underneath the nose contained a jaw that was bigger than any creatures I¡¯ve seen or heard of before. The body of the beast was plump but not huge. It was covered in large oval shapes, except for its front. The front had horizontal stripes indented every four inches from its neck right down to the belly of the beast. The limps of the beast were also covered in the oval shapes; however, the claws of the beast were covered in fresh blood- as if it had just finished killing something. The beast then roared a thunderous cry exposing the tiny bones that were between its giant teeth. Being scared out of my mind I ran behind Linley and hid, expecting him to protect me again. Just then Linley did something unusual, even for him. He walked up to the beast with his hands beside him and he didn¡¯t look like he was going to attack the beast at all. He stopped right in front of the beast and started saying something, but I was now too far away to make out what he was say, so I creeped my way forward to hear. However, no matter how close I got all I could hear from the dragon was roaring, I didn¡¯t understand how Linley was able to communicate with it. Unless he speaks the same language as the beast. ¡®That¡¯s ridiculous but it seems like they are talking about something. What could a beast and a human have in common? Unless Linley isn¡¯t a human.¡¯ Linley came strutting back to me and said, ¡°I have found the way out.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°You mean you expect me to fly out of here on that beast?¡± ¡°No actually the exit isn¡¯t that much further, if we keep on the same path. But before we continue your magic has to improve. There is a thing called the door of eternal souls, and in order to pass through it you must be strong enough to defeat what¡¯s on the other side, otherwise you¡¯ll be stuck in here like him.¡± Linley pointed to the beast that had now crawled off of the bolder and had started flapping its wigs preparing itself to depart. ¡°What¡¯s on the other side of the door?¡± ¡°Nobody knows. There is a myth that only blackness is beyond the door and if you can¡¯t get through it you will eventually go crazy and stay there or you¡¯ll die because you¡¯ll accidently walk off a cliff without know it. There is another myth that says when good people enter there is a great evil that protects a box, but the evil is too powerful and no magic in the world can defeat it. And if you¡¯re evil a great good is beyond the door and the happiness and joy filled within the person is too much for any evil to handle. Then again these are myths so nobody knows for sure.¡± ¡°But you said if I don¡¯t succeed I will be stuck here like the beast you were talking to. Does it know what¡¯s behind the door?¡± ¡°No. If someone fails their mind is completely wiped of everything they saw beyond the door, keeping its great secret hidden forever.¡± ¡°What about the people that don¡¯t fail, do they remember?¡± ¡°Nobody has survived to make it through the door.¡± My mouth dropped in shock. Linley lit his hand up with white light and said, ¡°Shall we?¡± Chapter 13: Dark Magic With everything he just told me racing through my mind it was hard to make it clear. I took a deep breath and calmed my body the best I could. Suddenly the energy ran through my body and with very little effort I was able to push it past my right elbow and into my hand. With a smile on my face I looked at my hand and said, ¡°I did it.¡± ¡°See I knew you could, you just needed a break before trying it again. Now do it again.¡± I closed my eyes, and with little to no trouble I was able to move my energy to my right hand and when I opened my eyes it was covered with a white light. I smiled even bigger as I let go of the energy. ¡°Now we can move on.¡± He stepped back and said, ¡°Try to light up both hands instead of just one.¡± ¡°Pfff that¡¯s easy.¡± I shut my eyes and as the energy began to grown inside of me I made it go into my left hand but I couldn¡¯t get anything in my right hand.¡± ¡°No so easy is it? The trick is to split it your energy before it makes its way to one of your hand. Once it hits one of your hands it¡¯s nearly impossible to split it from there.¡± ¡°Alright let me try it again.¡± This time when the energy was built enough I imagined it splitting in my mind, but the light only made it to my shoulders. ¡°This involves more energy, build up a ball of energy until you think it will explode inside of and then split it before it does.¡± Before I closed my eyes I imagine a small ball of light growing ever so slightly. With my eyes shut I felt the energy expanding inside of me little by little, and just when I think it¡¯s big enough I split it into two. But this time it only goes just over my shoulders. Over and over I try, with each time the energy ball becomes bigger and the light travels further and further down my arms. Linley interrupted my concentration by saying, ¡°That¡¯s enough for now come let¡¯s eat.¡± ¡®How could I eat with so much left to work on?¡¯ I thought. From the bag that Linley had hanging over one of his shoulder he produced and apple for each of us as well at the canteen that I had previous filled with water. We sat there in silence as we both ate our food and shared the water. When we were done we threw our cores over our shoulders and stood up. After a few steps we were both hit in the back of our heads with something. When we turned around and saw our cores laying on the ground we were confused. Thinking that it was nothing Linley just shrugged his shoulders and said, ¡°Let¡¯s keep moving.¡± Just then the ground began to violently shake below us, not wanting to get sucked into the ground again I ran as fast as I could to the nearest bolder and held as tight as possible. Linley followed me and waited as the ground stopped. There was nothing happening on the ground itself, it was as if it was shaking for no reason at all. Dirt then started falling layering the ground and after a while inches were added to the ground raising up everything on top of it. ¡®Maybe that¡¯s our way out¡¯ I thought, so I ran out to the open and stood on top of the pile and looked up to the ceiling as the ground continued to rise. I began to gleam with hope that maybe after all of this time I would finally be able to escape this cave; however, right when I was about to touch the ceiling the ground sharply dropped and pulled me in with it. It felt like I was being sucked into some kind of twister where there was no escape. My legs and arms were pinned down from being pulled so fast, my head was being held backwards and nothing was able to move properly. When I crashed to the ground the only two words that could escape me were, ¡°H-Help M-Me.¡± I knew that Linley couldn¡¯t hear me. When everything finally stopped and I opened my eyes slowly. Linley stood over top of me, and when I asked what had happened he responded with, ¡°You passed out while trying to use your magic.¡± Linley didn¡¯t say anything else, he just walked away and left me laying on the ground. Helpless. I then stood up and a stream of anger ran throughout my body. Before I knew it both of my hands were covered in a white light. ¡°HEY LINLEY!!!¡± I yelled, but he just kept ignoring me. A small ball light began to hover my hands, and in the heat of the moment I threw one hand forward at a time just missing Linley¡¯s face. They weren¡¯t very powerful, but since both of them just missed his head he stopped ignoring me and turned around. With a shocked look on his face Linley said, ¡°What the heck, were you trying to kill me?¡± He walked back to me and said, ¡°Your magic isn¡¯t anything to mess around with. You only aim it as something you¡¯re meaning to kill.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I was just so angry and I wanted your attention.¡± ¡°I know you didn¡¯t mean it, just don¡¯t throw your light unless you mean it.¡± He signed and then continued, ¡°What you just experienced is the full strength of your magic right now.¡± ¡°You mean I can use that much again?¡± ¡°With hard work, and stopping when you need a break I am very certain. You still want to continue?¡± With the biggest smile on my face I answered with great enthusiasm, ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Alright first things first, making a small amount of light hover over both hands.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t it be easier to do, since I¡¯ve reached my full power?¡± ¡°The hard part isn¡¯t getting there, its controlling it.¡± ¡°Okay I can do this.¡± I closed my eyes and tried to visualize how mad I just was and to imitate those feelings again. It was hard to get that mad while clearing my mind, but I tried anyways. I could feel a small amount of anger flowing through me, but not nearly much as I had just felt. The energy building inside of me this time is different from before I got angry, almost like a darkness is trying to take over my body. Just before it builds up anymore I stop and ask Linley, ¡°The energy that is building up inside of me feels dark, like a dark force is trying to take over my body. Is that normal when you reach the point that I¡¯m at?¡± Looking confused Linley said, ¡°No. There is no record of anyone ever feeling like that while training.¡± Then he started looking around the top of the cave and yelled, ¡°YO Gr¨¹nvolk GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!!!¡± Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Just then the beast that flew over us before swooped down, almost cutting me with its tail again, and landing on a giant bolder that was just in front of us. Linley walked up to the beast again; nevertheless, this time I was close enough to hear what he was saying. ¡°You know the power of light magic the best, was there ever a time where someone felt a darkness growing in them while trying to call their light?¡± The beast didn¡¯t answer. It just starred at Linley with its big yellow eyes while curled on the bolder. The moment I was about to walk away, because I didn¡¯t want to wait any longer, Linley spoke. ¡°I see, thank you.¡± The beast bowed its head at us and then flew off to where it came from. Linley turned around and after a slight pause he spoke. ¡°There¡¯s never been anyone in the history of our kind of magic that has had darkness running through them, like you described to me. However, there is a solution, but you are the only one that can choose the outcome. You say that there is darkness inside of you, but there is also great light inside of you as well. But you have to choose which path you want to follow, the dark or the light.¡± ¡°I have to?¡± ¡°Yes in this world there has never been light and dark working together, people always choose one or the other.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll be the first.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understand, there has been nobody because it is physically impossible for one person to control that much power. You¡¯d die.¡± ¡°Not if you control it. I really don¡¯t want to choose. What if¡­¡± ¡°There is no what if, you choose or you die those are your options.¡± ¡°But that doesn¡¯t seem fair to ask of somebody.¡± ¡°I¡¯m done explaining this to you.¡± Linley threw his arms up in the air and walked away. I knew deep down that I was meant to have both dark and light magic in me and I was not about to give that up. Calming myself down as quickly as possible I ignored Linley walking away and just focused on myself. I envisioned the light and dark magic separating inside of me and filling both of my hands with light. My energy started to build up inside of me and I could feel a great, almost overpowering, heat running through my body. I slowly guided it down both arms and into my hands. When I opened my eyes I could see that my hands were even brighter than they had been before. ¡®Maybe this darkness was the very thing holding people back from surviving the door of eternal souls.¡¯ Before I could even speak Linley was back in front of me with a worried look on his face. In order to calm him down I put a smile on my face as if I was telling him that everything was going to be alright. He didn¡¯t seem convinced but he moved on. ¡°Alright it seems that you aren¡¯t going to choose between the two types of magic, it doesn¡¯t mean that I agree with what you are doing, it just means that you are going to have to work twice as hard as anyone has ever done in order to master both types of magic.¡± I said nothing, but to show that I was happy with his decision I nodded in agreement. ¡°Now then show me that you can hover two balls of light over your hands.¡± I closed my eyes and without feeling anything my hands felt like they were instantly heated, and when I opened my eyes both of my hands were covered in a light. I tried once more but this time I imagined a ball of light hovering over each hand. This time when I opened my eyes the balls of light were there, and with just a slight change in my thoughts they were growing. In order to stop them I took a deep breath and let go of the feelings that I was holding onto; however, that didn¡¯t work. They just kept growing. I tried squinting my eyes shut but that only made them grow bigger. I started to panic, and just when I thought I was going to explode Linley blew on my palms and all of the tension inside of me was released. ¡°I see that you have that ability down, now to work on getting rid of it once you have used it.¡± I looked at my hands and while flipping them I said, ¡°I don¡¯t understand, I¡¯ve never had this problem before. I¡¯ve always been able to let go of the energy whenever I wanted.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the darkness inside of you at work. All it wants to do is destroy. So your job, if you still want to keep it, is to control that urge and only use it when it is absolutely needed.¡± I tried again. But when I got to the point where all I had to do was release my energy everything started going crazy again and Linley had to step in and help me again. I was not giving up I refused to have Linley tell me what to do. Every time I tried the same thing happened, and yet every time Linley helped me so that I wouldn¡¯t destroy the cave. Finally, I decided to give up and move on. Before I took a step though, I hugged and thanked Linley for not giving up or abandoning me. ¡°I just don¡¯t want to die before getting us to the exit that¡¯s all.¡± I could tell that he meant more behind those words, but I didn¡¯t say anything. We walked in silence and it was nice to have some peace and quiet. I couldn¡¯t help but start to get the feeling that something was going to attack us any moment. I started looking over my shoulder and slowing my pace down with my walking. ¡°Are you alright?¡± ¡°It just seems a little quiet to me that¡¯s all, usually when it¡¯s this quiet something attacks us.¡± ¡°You¡¯re being paranoid, nothing¡¯s going to attack us.¡± ¡°Maybe you¡¯re right, but I¡¯m not taking any chances.¡± I raised my left hand and was ready to strike anything that came after us. ¡°Lower your hand before you hurt somebody. Mostly yourself. You don¡¯t know how to control your magic yet so it¡¯s best to calm down before we both end up in real trouble.¡± ¡°But¡­but...¡± Linley just stared at me until I lowered my hand and calmed down a bit. Chapter 14: A Way Out We continued on until we found a giant ravine, that looked like it contained no bottom just to the right of us. And just in front of us was a tiny, narrow, stone bride that was broken off in various places, so in order to cross one would have to jump from stone to stone. The bridge was just wide enough to allow someone to place on foot in front of the other while walking across it. I couldn¡¯t help but get excited because it looked like it could be an exit. So I ran as fast as I could towards the bridge, I began tasting blood because I was running so hard and getting exhausted so fast. No matter how much I ran though, the bridge didn¡¯t seem to be getting any closer and Linley was still standing right beside me. ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Why can¡¯t I run towards it?¡± ¡°This is an illusion set out by the creatures of the cave to tire people out before they are able to access their hidden magic.¡± Linley reached forward to try and touched an invisible barrier that covered the ravine, then he continued, ¡°I¡¯ve only heard of things like this, I never thought that they were actually real. We better keep moving before we find ourselves entrapped in another illusion.¡± We better keep moving before we find ourselves entrapped in another illusion.¡± My eyes started to tear up but I knew that there was no use getting worked up about something that wasn¡¯t even real in the first place. ¡°Alright¡± I sighed. We walked away for a while and just when I thought I could rest Linley turned to me and said, ¡°You ready to practice some more?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± I closed my eyes and focused on the light and dark magic inside of me. I imagined them splitting apart from one another the dark magic disappearing, and the light magic moving to my hands; filling them up with its heat. I formed small light ball in my head and when I opened my eyes I saw it hovering over my hands. ¡®Now for the hard part¡¯ I think. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and made the small light pop in the air. For a moment I stand there not knowing what to do. Then Linley grabbed my hands and shook them. Then the thought entered my mind ¡®I just made the light disappear without anything exploding.¡¯ My face lit up with a smile and a little school girl giggle escaped my mouth. Being excited with my small accomplishment I hugged Linley and held onto him as tight as I could. Linley suddenly went stiff, as if nobody¡¯s physically touched before. When I let go Linley returned to his normal stance and the only thing he said was, ¡°Again.¡± My first couple of tries felt like I would never gain my confidence back, but by the fourth time I got the hang of my magic and I was able to make the light pop above my hands every time. When I finished Linley smiled at me for more than ten seconds. After he gave a nod of improvement he took his bag off of his shoulder and passed me an apple and the canteen of water as my reward for my hard work. We walked over to the closest wall and sat down to enjoy our small meal. We didn¡¯t say a work the entire time. It was nice to be in his company and not have to worry about building up my strength, even if it was only for a short amount of time. When we finished we dropped our cores on the ground as we stood up and walked away. Out of nowhere we got hit in the back of our heads with apple cores. We tried to ignore it, but the longer we ignored it the harder we got hit. Linley couldn¡¯t stand it anymore, I could see his anger building up inside of him, and he formed a fist in both hands, swiftly turned around then yelled, ¡°FINE YOU WANT A FIGHT YOU¡¯VE GOT ONE!¡± When I turned around an army appeared out of thin air. They were all built out of sticks, rocks and dirt. It was as if clumps of dirt piled on top each other eventually forming the outline of a humanlike creature. The sticks outlined its limbs and head, which the dirt then filled in and the rocks looked as though they were in a line up the sides of the army to be used as a weapon if needed. When the army moved they moved as one being. Linley looked at me and asked, ¡°You ready to test your power out on an enemy?¡± Stunned by the number that now stood in front of me I lowered my head and quietly said, ¡°I guess so.¡± ¡°Good, cause here they come!!¡± Linley then ran full force into the army of demons burning as many as he could, with his magic, while he ran past them. He was able to create a path for himself to run through; however, in almost no time at all he was completely surrounded by the army. ¡°Jasmine help I can¡¯t defeat this army by myself!! I need you.¡± I perked my head up and thought ¡®he needs me, well there¡¯s no point in letting him down now.¡¯ My body felt a sudden to save Linley. I closed my eyes and imagined the entire army exploding from my magic. When I slowly opened my eyes the entire army was gone, all that remained was burnt ground where the army use to stand and Linley in a ball covering his face. I didn¡¯t even notice that my hands were raised until Linley came up to me and lowered my hands for me. My eyes began to fill up with tears as I began to think what could have happened to Linley if he didn¡¯t have his magic to protect himself. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. He grabbed my shoulders and said, ¡°I can¡¯t believe you took out that entire army. I¡¯m so proud.¡± Feeling guilty I spoke the truth, ¡°actually¡­ seeing them all gone was a surprise to me too.¡± Linley took a step back and asked, ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Well¡­ you see¡­ I just saw them all being burnt in my head, and when I opened my eyes they were all gone.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying that you had no control what so ever?¡± I lowered my head and with a sniffle I answered, ¡°No.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a problem. At this rate you¡¯re going to kill yourself before we even get close to our goal. You¡¯re going to have to control your magic before you try and use it again. Understand?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I took a deep sign and walked away from him. The rest of the day was more of the same, me practicing my magic to have better control of it. By the time Linley told me to stop since he was getting tired and needed sleep I was exhausted and fell into a deep sleep as soon as I laid down. The crumbling noise around me was so loud that I could barely keep calm. My head started to pound and I couldn¡¯t concentrate on what I needed to do. I couldn¡¯t separate myself from the outside noise from what was running throughout my head. Finally, anger built up inside of me and I couldn¡¯t take it anymore. I screamed as loud as I could for the noises to stop, but they just kept getting louder and louder. I tried placing my hands over my ears to block out the noise but it was too loud. Without a second thought I put my hands out straight in front of me. I could feel my dark energy pulsing through my body and then it shot out of my hands and formed a small ball. I stayed like that until the noise stopped. There was finally silence all around me and I could hear my own thoughts again. Nevertheless, a bad feeling crept up on me. When I opened my eyes I was welcomed with a horrid sight. Linley was laying on the ground holding his stomach. As I inched closer to him I noticed light ball marks all over his body. ¡®I¡¯ve done this¡¯ I thought. My eyes started to tear up as I backed away slowly from his body. I couldn¡¯t take my eyes off of his dead body. Tears were now pouring down my face and I could no longer control them. Before long I was crying like I had never cried before. I dropped to my knees and started crying into my hands, which were now vibrating from how scared I was. Even though my vision was blurred I could still make out the outline of Linley¡¯s body. The next few hours I couldn¡¯t even move and the only thing I was capable of doing was rocking back and forth in a ball as a way to calm myself down. My head started to hurt from the amount that I had been crying, so I laid down on my side, closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep. But my sleep was restless, anytime I closed my eyes I just saw myself killing Linley over and over again. No matter how many times I saw it, the pain never got easier, and no matter how hard I tried I could never prevent it from happening. I couldn¡¯t help the nightmare anymore so I opened my eyes for real and sat up as quickly as I could, only to find the body of my friend only a few feet away. I was afraid that he was dead for real so I shouted him name to make sure my nightmare was only that, a nightmare. ¡°LINLEY!!!!!!¡± I woke up drenched in sweat. I couldn¡¯t see out of my eyes past my tears that had formed in my sleep. With a sleepy sound in his voice Linley asked, ¡°What is it?¡± *sniffle* ¡°I saw you die because I lost control of my magic and there was nothing I could do to stop it.¡± *sniffle. * ¡°That won¡¯t happen. Just go back to sleep and try and forget about it. You think you can do that?¡± ¡°Yeah¡± I lied. ¡®There was no way something that horrible I could just forget about¡¯ I thought. The rest of the night I refused to sleep because I was scared that my nightmare would come back. So I laid on my back and stared upwards thought about what my hometown would be like once I finally made it out of the cave. Before I knew it Linley was awake and ready to start the day¡¯s training. Chapter 15: Gr眉nvolks Challenge The next few days were more of the same, Linley and I got up trained, took a small break to eat, trained some more and then went to sleep. One morning was different though, when I woke up Linley was gone, usually he would leave for a couple of minutes; however, this time he was gone longer than usual. Knowing that I wouldn¡¯t be able to go back to sleep I got up and crawled out of the area that we had fallen asleep in. When I was able to I stretched my body, and just as I was about to rub my eyes I saw Linley standing in the middle, in the open, staring up at the roof. At first I thought that he was looking for Gr¨¹nvolk, so I just shook off the bad feeling I had and rubbed my eyes. However, when my vision became clear I didn¡¯t see Gr¨¹nvolk or anything for that matter around Linley. Cautiously I walked up to him and made sure that I didn¡¯t disturb him. Once I stood next to him I looked up, but all I saw nothing. ¡®Hmmm¡­ should I try to snap him out of whatever he¡¯s under? But If I do he may seriously harm me¡­ Or I could wake him up from a rem sleep that made him sleep walk.¡¯ Thinking that the section option was the best I shook Linley by his shoulders and tried to wake him up. But he just stood there. It was as if he couldn¡¯t even hear me. I tried again but this time I shook him harder and yelled louder at him. Again he just stood there as if I didn¡¯t exist. When I was about to reach over and shake him again Linley said, ¡°I heard you the first time. I just chose to finish my train of thought before I answer you.¡± ¡°What were you thinking about?¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t concern you. Why are you out of bed, you need to be sleeping.¡± ¡°I was worried about you, you didn¡¯t come back and I started to think that something bad happened to you.¡± ¡°Well you don¡¯t have to worry. Go back to sleep everything¡¯s fine.¡± I shrugged and said, ¡°alright, if you say so.¡± I leaned forward to give Linley a hug goodnight but he stepped back so fast that I couldn¡¯t even get near him. I just waved goodnight at him while I walked away instead. When I got back I laid down on the ground and attempted to go back to sleep. Right when I was just about asleep my dream would come back, where I was killing Linley, so that entire night I didn¡¯t get any sleep. In the morning Linley shoot me and said, ¡°It¡¯s time for training. Unless you¡¯re too tired for training today?¡± With a sign I sat up and answered, ¡°Nope I¡¯m good.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Linley got up and waited for me to get my lazy butt up to begin training. I finally only had one step in my training to control before I was truly ready. That was to burn my enemies. I did not know how Linley would train me for this, but after my dream I did not want to cause an accident and burn him to death. ¡°Alright I want you to try and burn me.¡± ¡°Wait what?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry my magic will protect me like it did last time.¡± ¡°Ummmm okay¡­.¡± I raised my hands and did what I did when I was in front of the army, I imagined Linley burning. However, when I opened my eyes nothing had happened. ¡°It is one thing to see your magic it is another to use it.¡± After a slight pause Linley said, ¡°Just do what you did last time.¡± Lowering my head, I said, ¡°But I don¡¯t remember what I did last time.¡± ¡°Well you¡¯re going to have to, and fast.¡± ¡°Awe, alright.¡± The day passed and still I had not succeeded in burning Linley. As I got ready to go to sleep that night I felt like such a failure that I fell asleep crying. That night had a relatively peaceful sleep that is until I woke up in the middle of the night and Linley was missing again. Thinking that he wouldn¡¯t want me to be around again I ignored my sudden panic for him and fell asleep again. The next time I woke up I knew that I had overslept but Linley was still nowhere to be seen. My panic feeling started to kick in and I got up to start my search for him. It was only a few feet away that I saw Linley standing still looking up again. I walked up to him and asked what he was doing, but when he didn¡¯t answer I decided to tap him on his shoulder. He suddenly grabbed my hand tight, causing me to jump, and slowly slid my hand down his arm. Once our hands reached his other hand his free hand grabbed my left hand and wrapped my arm around my head. Then he swiftly spun me around and pulled me into himself. He gently wrapped his arms around me and embraced me from behind. Before I knew what was happening he brushed my hair off one of my shoulder and whispered something in my ear. I was so turned on that I did not hear what he said. I just leaned backwards, placed my head on his right shoulder and closed my eyes. Quietly I kept hearing Linley asking, ¡°You ready for training?¡± The question kept getting louder and louder beside my head. When the question was a scream inside of my head I opened my eyes and found Linley no longer behind me but standing in front of me waiting for my answer. Shaking my head, I asked, ¡°What?¡± ¡°Are. You. Ready. For. Training? How many time do I have to ask you? Gosh woman.¡± My head was still fuzzy from what must have been my dream. ¡®Or was it real? If it was real, how could Linley be acting like nothing happened? I guess I¡¯ll just have to act like nothing happened too.¡¯ If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The days went on, one by one, and by the time I was able to burn Linley he was more annoyed than anything. "I thought you were special, but clearly I was wrong." Gr¨¹nvolk came the next day and sat on a nearby rock. As Linley and the dragon talked, about gosh knows what, I just crawled back into our cave for the night and attempted to go back to sleep. Before long Linley drug me out of the cave and said, "There is no time for sleep if you want to become like the great possessor. You want that don''t you?" "Of course. But..." "There is no buts in training. It''s bad enough that you sleep 4 hours a day, you don''t need more than that. If you were really dedicated, you wouldn''t even need that much." "I didn''t ask for this, so I''m sorry if I need sleep." Linley stuck out his hand in front of me to stop me from talking and said, "Anyways Gr¨¹nvolk told me that if you could burn him, like you did with me, then you would be ready to enter the door." "Is that even possible?" "Who knows, but there''s only one way to find out." ''He¡¯s gotta be out of his mind, but if this is part of my training I better do it'' I thought. Trying not to show my fear of the situation, I took a deep breath and with all of the pride that I had I walked up to the dragon curled up in front of me. Following the same procedure that I had done a hundred times before, I raised my hand and carefully aimed my magic at the dragon. Although unlike the other times when I opened my eyes nothing happened, as if the dragon had repelled or absorbed the heat that had surrounded it moments ago. This time I thought of trying to use my magic with my eyes open, it had less power but this time I could see what the dragon was doing with my magic. This time as my magic was carefully aimed at the dragon the most unusual thing happened. It didn''t absorb the heat nor did it repel it; it just disappeared into thin air the moment it left my hands. I tried this several more time, growing more frustrated with every time, until I finally gave up and looked up with Linley with sad eyes. I had finally given up. "Don¡¯t give me those eyes. It''s not that hard, you just have to really focus" Linley said. "I can''t... I tried and I failed." "If you would have given up every time you didn''t get your magic on the first try than we wouldn''t be nearly as far as we are now. Just try one more time and if you still can''t focus than I''ll leave you alone; magic wise." After some self-convincing I finally decided to try it one more time. So I placed my hands out in front of me. This time; however, instead of seeing Gr¨¹nvolk burning I thought of the one thing that brought me on this journey. That single thought gave me enough strength that I was able to completely smother Gr¨¹nvolk with flames. Impressed Linley smiled and said, "Wow where were you hiding that power?" Unsure I answered, "I don''t actually know, I just kind of came to me." "Remember that feeling next time." Gr¨¹nvolk gracefully jumped off of the rock that he had been sitting on and came crashing his way towards me. When he was right in front of me he stood as tall and proud as he could. His head slowly nodded at me and for once I could understand what he was saying. Even though he wasn''t talking I could hear a deep husky voice talking inside of my head. "Now that you have passed the final test you are now able to enter the door of eternal souls." He took a giant step sideways and said, "Good luck." He flapped his wings and flew off into the distance. Linley asked what Gr¨¹nvolk said, but before I could answer the rock that Gr¨¹nvolk was sitting on slid backwards and exposed a florescent pink hallway. I looked at the pink hallway, then at Linley, back to the hallway and then back at Linley. With a hopeful smile on my face I asked, ¡°Is that the door of eternal souls?¡± ¡°No, this is only the hallway that leads to the door.¡± With disappointment I sighed and said, ¡°Oh.¡± Linley placed his hand on my shoulder and said with a smile, ¡°Don¡¯t worry we¡¯ve got this. You trust me?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got me this far so I have no choice but to count on you.¡± With a fake smile Linley said, ¡°That¡¯s the spirit.¡± He patted my back and we started walking towards the hallway. Once we were inside the rock came to a crashing close behind us. Linley turned to me and said, ¡°Well I guess there¡¯s no turning back now.¡± I didn¡¯t say anything to him, I just kept walking down the hallway, hoping that nothing would jump out at us. After being in silent for a significant amount of time the sound of blowing wind could be faintly heard as we kept walking down the hallway. The further we walked the louder it got. Until we reached a door. Observing the door, I asked Linley, ¡°Is this the door of eternal souls?¡± I could see surprise on his face, like he had never seen the door before. He answered with a slight nod. Chapter 16: A Sense of Loss Linley reached out with his hand and being scared about what was ahead of us I grabbed it. At the same time Linley and I reached towards the door handle to turn it. When we turned the handle the door flew open by a gust of wind. It crashed into the stone wall behind it. Beyond the door the only thing that I could make out was a green fog covering the ground; slowly creeping out of the open doorway. Not taking my eyes off the fog I said, ¡°That doesn¡¯t look creepy at all.¡± With a confused look Linley said, ¡°How does a beach with a bright blue sky look creepy.¡± ¡®That¡¯s why nobody knows what¡¯s inside of the eternal door of souls. Each person experiences and sees something different when they¡¯re inside¡¯ I thought. I looked at Linley and said, ¡°Never mind.¡± Not saying another word, with my hand still in his, Linley pulled me slightly behind him as he began to cross the doorway. However, when I put my foot on the other side of the door there was a flash of light and my body was flown back, by an incredible pressure. I landed feet away from the door on my back. The door closed so that neither of us to see inside of it. Linley turned around in shock. He ran over to me in concern. ¡°Jasmine are you okay?¡± I leaned on my elbows and the only thing I could say was, ¡°Ow that hurt.¡± Linley offered his hand and helped me back to my feet. My head felt a little dizzy when I stood up, but I ignored the feeling and took a deep breath. Once again Linley and I approached the door. This time we did hold hands, but we were almost touching arms because we were so close to each other. We both reached for the handle again. The door flung open and I was faced with the same image as before. Linley stepped through the doorway and I waited until his entire body was across before I attempted to step into the fog. I lift my foot and reached it to the other side of the door; but before I could place it down a light flashed and I was flown back again. I landed on my back, in more pain than the last time. ¡°JASMINE!!!!¡± When the pounding in my head became less painful I lifted my head and saw Linley pounding against an invisible barrier. He couldn¡¯t escape the door. Forgetting about the throbbing pain in my body I jumped up and ran towards the door. ¡°Forget about me, are you alright Linley?¡± ¡°Yeah I¡¯m fine, I just can¡¯t get out.¡± He turned around and must have seen something because he began to walk deeper in the green fog. When I could barely see him the fog completely consumed him. I cried out, ¡°LINLEY!!!¡± But he couldn¡¯t hear me, the only thing I could do now was wait. Wait and see if he survives the impossible door. I turned from nervous to anxious in minutes. I began to fidget with my fingers as I imagined the horror that Linley was going to through. Thinking about the stories that Linley told me, he would be tested in the worst way and there would be a very high chance of his death. As I thought about his death my eyes began to fill up with tears and they ran down my face uncontrollably. I dropped to the ground, into a ball, and began to rock back and forth as I cried as hard as I could. Even though I had not known Linley that long my longing for him consumed me and I realized that I truly loved him. Without him I would be nothing, and I would not have made it this far if it wasn¡¯t for him. I sniffed to try and shake the sadness away. I took my thumbs and wiped the tears from under my eyes and off my face. I still had the sense of sadness building inside of me. So I decided to something that Linley would want me to do. Train my magic so I would be strong enough for the door. I slowly stood up and turned around. I made my way towards the entrance of the pink hallway and pounded on the rock; which had closed Linley and I in, as hard as I could. There was a loud rumbling noise and then the rock rolled sideways, allowing me to walk back into the cave. Once outside I took a few steps and then I looked up to the top of the cave. At the top of my lungs I yelled ¡°GR¨¹NVOLK GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!!!!¡± When I didn¡¯t hear the dragon come down I lifted up my hand and shot up my light above me, using my anger that was now overpowering my sad emotions. Gr¨¹nvolk gracefully flew down and landed on the rock in front of me. When he landed his wings folded behind him, and he just looked at me with his yellow eyes waiting for me to say something. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°I need to train my magic more. Help Me Or I¡¯ll Destroy You With My Magic!!¡± He shook his big head and flew away. Infuriated I used both of my hands and shot my light above me. Since anger boiled throughout my body the light that was coming out of my hands was pure black- instead of white. As soon as I realized this I stopped and tried to form a light ball above my hand. Again it was black. ¡®The black magic inside of me has finally surfaced. This isn¡¯t good. How am I supposed to separate the light and dark magic?¡¯ I had no way of answering this questions, because the only person who could help me was inside the eternal door of souls. I tried both of my hands multiple times but however long I kept the light ball, or whatever hand I used, it was always black. I wanted to give up because I had failed at keeping the dark magic away from my light. But even when I had that thought Linley¡¯s words would cross my mind. ¡®If you would have given up every time you didn''t get your magic on the first try than we wouldn''t be nearly as far as we are now.¡¯ With those words ringing through my head I knew that Linley would not let me give up. However, I still didn¡¯t know what I was going to do. I looked up and hoped that Gr¨¹nvolk could help me. ¡°Gr¨¹nvolk I¡¯m sorry about before.¡± I waited to see if he would come down. Nothing. ¡°I could really use your help.¡± I heard flapping wings and then Gr¨¹nvolk gracefully landed on the rock in front of me and waited for me to say something. ¡°My dark magic has overpowered my light magic. Linley was helping me control them both but I¡¯m afraid that it is not working anymore.¡± ¡°From what I just saw this is not a surprise.¡± I looked at my hands and said, ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°You were frustrated that you couldn¡¯t be with Linley am I correct?¡± I looked down in embarrassment and said, ¡°Well¡­Yes.¡± ¡°Long story short he was helping you suppress those dark feelings, because you always felt happy around him, and due to that your white light always came out. But now that he is gone you aren¡¯t able to feel the same type happiness as before; therefore, your dark feelings are taking over your light ones. The only way to have your light magic back is to remember how you felt when you were with Linley.¡± Without another word Gr¨¹nvolk flew off and left me alone. I stood there and tried to image Linley standing in front of me. I held my hand out and made a ball form above my hand. Keeping as calm as I could I opened my eyes to see what colour it was. White. ¡®It really worked.¡¯ I took a deep breath and made the light vanish. With a smile on my face I attempted to do the same thing, as I thought about my adventure with Linley. Once again a light ball formed. I tried with my other hand and the light stayed white, as long as I thought about Linley, the moment I took my mind away from him the light began to turn black. ¡°Gr¨¹nvolk I¡¯m ready to go back to the eternal door of souls.¡± Without showing his presence Gr¨¹nvolk opened the rock with his magic. The florescent pink shone in my eyes once again. I made my way to the hallway once again and the moment I wad on the other side of the rock it crashed behind me; trapping me inside. Without a second thought I quickly made my way towards the door. The stone door was still open just how I left it, and the green fog was seeping out of the door. It would instantly disappear when it hit the floor on the opposite side, but there was still a creep aspect to it. I lifted my foot and attempted to place it on the other side of the door. Unlike last time nothing happened to me, and I was able to fully step inside of the life ending door. The green fog began to gently float over my feet; yet not raising above my knees. Everything else was pitch black around me. I folded my arms and held them close to my body since I was scared out of my mind. My feet wouldn¡¯t move more than an inch in front of me, so I was shuffling through the fog. Every time I hear the slightest sound my head quickly moved in that direction. When my head was turned behind me my foot got caught on a thick root and I fell on my face. My foot was still caught on the root, as if trapped, and no matter how hard I tried to release it the root would just get tighter around my foot. The fog began to swarm around me and within seconds I was submerged beneath it. Chapter 17: The First Test I couldn¡¯t breathe. I was as if my lungs were only being filled up with fog. The next thing I knew I was transported back into the cave that I just escaped from. I rolled on my back and began to cough as hard as I could to get all of the fog out of my lungs. I just laid there for a moment looking up wishing that Linley was with me. All of a sudden I heard a voice quietly say, ¡°What are you doing?¡± I sat up and in astonishment I jumped to my feet as quick as I could, because the voice belonged to Linley. I couldn¡¯t help myself, so I ran up to him and gave him the biggest hug that I had ever given someone. Tears began to fill my eyes because I was so happy to see him. ¡°What¡¯s all this about? We were training and then you just fell.¡± Not being able to help my sadness I whined, ¡°No we weren¡¯t, you walked through the door of eternal souls and I thought that I lost you forever.¡± Thinking that I was making something up Linley said, ¡°I think you¡¯ve done too much training today, why don¡¯t you go over there and have a nap for a while and we¡¯ll continue when you wake up.¡± Going along with Linley¡¯s act I went over to a small hole in the wall and I fell asleep. It was just like how I remembered it, Linley and I training together making my magic stronger so that I could face my challenge in front of me. I was truly happy and it felt so long since I felt like that. I closed my eyes and I instantly fell into a comatose state of sleep. A dreamless, peaceful sleep; a type of sleep that you don¡¯t ever want to wake up from. I opened my eyes and instantly felt refreshed. When I crawled out of the hole Linley walked over to me and said, ¡°It¡¯s about time I thought you were dead or something.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Of course not. Now ready to continue training?¡± I made a half smile and said, ¡°You bet.¡± ¡°Okay, I want you to hit me with your magic as hard as you can and I¡¯ll do my best to block it. If I can¡¯t then you pass, but if I can then we will have to keep training you until you can.¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t want to hurt you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry you won¡¯t. Now are you ready?¡± My hands shook with fear but my head went against my fear and it shook ¡®yes¡¯ on its own. So Linley raised his hands ready to block my attack. I raised one of my hands and aimed my magic towards Linley, but it wasn¡¯t as strong as it normally is. ¡°Jasmine I mean it force all of your magic on me, with BOTH hands!!¡± His face became angry for no reason at all and he said, ¡°If you don¡¯t do this I will aim my magic at you and you¡¯ll have to block it. At least the way that we are doing it nobody will get hurt.¡± I lifted my other hand and aimed both of my hands at Linley. My white magic wasn¡¯t the strongest magic that I had, but I knew that I wouldn¡¯t be able to get to my strongest magic while I was around Linley. I was truly happy around him and there was no darkness whatsoever rising inside of me. ¡°You failed your training for the day, and as a result you have to aim twenty times each hand at the wall beside you. After you¡¯re done we will try again.¡± I walked over the wall beside me and began to hit my magic against the wall one hand at a time. I didn¡¯t try to hit it as hard as I could, but I still made it look like I was really trying to Linley. I would close both my fists and eyes at the same time and then when they both opened I would push my white magic out of my hands and onto the wall for a split second. Then I would close both of them and do it again. When I finished I walked back over to Linley and said, ¡°Okay I¡¯m done, what now?¡± ¡°Now we try again. Hit me with everything you¡¯ve got.¡± My eyes widen with surprise and I said, ¡°But I don¡¯t want to hurt you. Trust me I will hurt you if I hit you my hardest.¡± ¡°By what you were doing to the wall I would seriously doubt that.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understand, recently I found out that my true power only comes when I am grieving the person I love.¡± ¡°Then do that.¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. I embarrassment I lowered my head and said, ¡°I¡­Can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Because that person is you.¡± In shock Linley turned beat red and looked down. I just stood there and glanced over at him, but he couldn¡¯t make eye contact with me. I didn¡¯t know if I should say anything else to him, or if I should just walk away and let him think about what I just said to him. After a moment or two I decided that the best approach was to walk away and let Linley be by himself. So I turned around and began to walk away. But Linley called after me, ¡°Where are you going?¡± ¡°I was just giving you space, considering you haven¡¯t said anything.¡± I just stood there and waited to see what Linley would say. But instead of saying anything he just slowly walked over to me. He gave me a hug and said, in my ear, ¡°We can never be together. If I would have known that you felt that way I would have gotten Gr¨¹nvolk to train you instead.¡± I hugged him tighter and said, ¡°But why can¡¯t we be together?¡± He let go and said, ¡°I told you when we first met when two people with the same magic, such as you and I come onto contact with each other bad things will happen.¡± ¡°Bad things already happened to us and we still survived. What makes you think that we can¡¯t survive if something else bad happens?¡± ¡°I just do okay.¡± Linley didn¡¯t say anything else he just stepped back and watched me. When I reached out to grab Linley¡¯s hand my necklace, that the wizard gave me; which had been around my neck, started to glow through my shirt and burn against my collar bone. Not wanting to damage it I turned my necklace around my neck as quick as possible and undid the clasp; burning the tips of my fingers in the process. Once it was undone I dropped it on the ground and watched it fall into a knotted pile. Just then beams of yellow light began to shoot out of the tiny pile around the area of the cave that Linley and I were in. Every time that a beam even came close to me I ducked or moved out of its way. It would hit the walls or the ceiling causing massive amounts of dirt to fall on us. Every so often I would roll towards the pile, where my necklace was, and the ground would be so hot that I could get closer than 2 meters to it. Linley was using his magic to block the beams from hitting him. However, when he was trying to block one beam another came quickly behind him and caught him off guard. It knocked him off balance and he fell down. He knocked his head on a rock near him and he didn¡¯t move. When the beams disappeared and my necklace became normal again I ran over to where Linley was laying. I sat down close to his head and placed it on my lap. I looked at my hand, that was supporting his head, and it was covered in blood. I knew the moment that I saw him hit the rock he probably didn¡¯t survive. He was dead, for real, and there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. I brushed my fingers against his eyes, closing them along the process. His face was frozen with a fighting look on it. Every time we fought something he would always be the brave one, and now there was nobody to protect me. I had no choice but to continue on my own no matter the consequences. I bent forward and kissed his forehead then I carefully moved his head as I got up. I thought that he should have a proper burial; nevertheless, I didn¡¯t have anything to use for it. So I just took the dirt that had fallen around us and covered his body with that, one handful at a time, until the majority of his body was covered. After I was done I turned around because I couldn¡¯t stand the sight of my closest friend being dead right behind me. Tears began to pour down my face at an incredible rate, even when I sniffled to try and make them stop they still kept coming. I fell on my knees and began to cry into my hands. Linley was really dead. My love and my world was really dead. I lifted my head for only a moment and in the distance, between my tears I could see something green quickly approaching me. I took my thumbs and wiped my eyes; however, before I could clearly make out what it was it surrounded me. Once again the green fog was around me and swarmed around me before it consumed me once again. Chapter 18: Copping with the Darkness I curled into a ball trying to protect myself from the fog. I closed my mouth tight so that air could not escape and even better the fog could not get into my lungs. Nevertheless, since I wasn¡¯t getting much air I was shortly unconscious and fell into a deep sleep. I couldn¡¯t see anything, it was as if I was blind, then I saw two shapes; one in black and one in white. The black shape was more of an all consuming blob than any distinct shape; however, the white shape was a single ball of light shinning bright. The white light was just floating around the air in a line horizontally all of a sudden the black blob surrounded it. The white light had no choice but to be engulfed by the blackness. I didn¡¯t really think much about what I was seeing; that is until I heard a familiar voice. I turned around in curiosity and saw someone I never thought I¡¯d see. Linley. He said, ¡°That is what¡¯s going to happen if you don¡¯t take control of your darkness. It will consume whatever ¡®light¡¯ within you and leave you with only blackness.¡± Before either of us could say another word Linley brushed away from my view; like a ghost. In shock of seeing Linley I couldn¡¯t process what he was saying, I could only think of the possibility of him actually being alive. ¡°LINLEY COME BACK!!!!!¡± I paused and waited for him to return. This time when I loudly said, ¡°Linley come back¡± my voice cracked as I began to cry. This time I didn¡¯t cry because I missed Linley, but rather because I was helpless and Linley couldn¡¯t help me get back the right path. I kept calling for him, into the emptiness before me, but every time called out more and more tears would pour out of my eyes. Until finally, I couldn¡¯t make any noise because I was crying so hard. I dropped to the ground and cried and cried until my face became sore from crying so much. ¡®Without Linley there isn¡¯t any point continuing my training. I mind as well give into the darkness inside of me, since I clearly can¡¯t control my light magic the same way I used to.¡¯ Coming to this conclusion made me proud to some degree, in some way I was proud with my decision. ¡®Even though it wasn¡¯t my original path, maybe I was supposed to give into the darkness all along¡¯ I thought. Nevertheless, there was still Linley¡¯s voice in the back of my head telling me that I had made the wrong decision. ¡®NO¡¯ I thought, ¡®This is my decision. Linley is dead, therefore can¡¯t help me anymore. If I want to embrace my darkness I should.¡¯ With this thought in mind I straightened my arms out beside me and as I spun around as fast as I could, I pushed my dark magic out of my hands as hard as I could. No matter how much magic I forced out of my hands it never hit anything, it was as if where I was had no walls. I spun faster and faster, on my toes, just to see what would happen. I kept my arms out as straight as I could, even if the pressure began to push down on my arms I still held them up with all of my might. When I began to slow down I noticed that my dark magic had created a dark shell around me, and once I completely stopped the dark magic around me kept spinning at the speed that I was spinning at. I took a step, nothing happened, then I took another step and the darkness swarm followed me. I began to take bigger steps and it still continued to follow me. I sprinted a few feet and then stopped suddenly and the swarm still followed me. Without any magic coming out of my hands I began to spin around and I started to giggle, like a little girl, at the fun I was having. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. This went on for hours. The fun stopped when I wanted the darkness to disappear so that I could see where I actually was. Also with darkness around me I couldn¡¯t fight anything if it came at me. I put my hands out straight in front of me, closed my eyes and began to suck the darkness back into my body. However, this technique wasn¡¯t as affective as it had been in the past. I tried again, only this time I concentrated harder than I usually would, but only little bits of darkness faded away. I pushed myself as hard as I could to try and suck in all of the darkness, using my hands, but nothing happened to the darkness. From the amount of pressure, I was putting on my body my nose started to bleed, because I was concentrating so hard, my arms and hands began to violently shake uncontrollably and my legs eventually gave out because they couldn¡¯t handle the pressure I was putting on them anymore. After putting all of the effort I had into getting rid of the darkness around me nothing worked. I was stuck with a swarm of darkness surrounding me. I collapsed in exhaustion. My entire body became numb and ached with pain, pain that I had never felt before. My eyes and head felt heavy so I gave into the feeling and I curled into a ball and fell asleep. When my brain tried to create a dream all I could see was giant needles being stabbed into every part of my body, and no matter how hard or loud I screamed it never stopped. The pain never stopped. Not even when I woke up. In shock to my dream, and to the pain, my body began to throb and my arms and legs were shaking uncontrollably. My breaths were shorter than usual. It felt like the giant needles were still stabbing me and I couldn¡¯t wake up from my endless nightmare. Not being able to move my body that much I rolled my head, gently, to the side and saw that the darkness that surrounded me before was now gone. With every ounce of strength, I had I moved my hand towards my face and saw, that covering the back of my hand, was a dark symbol. It was a black oval covering the entirety of my hand, and within the oval looked like little tear drops with a single black dot carefully placed in the middle of each one. I rolled my head, gently, to the other side and looked at my other hand. It had the same thing on it. I rolled my head so that I was looking straight up and I closed my eyes, trying to make the pain go away. Just then I felt something on my hands and when I opened my eyes my hands were glowing. The tear drops began to float above my hands; very slowly. When they were all an inch above my body they formed a circle and began to spin in an oval going from my head to my toes. Once they gained enough speed, that I couldn¡¯t see them, they began to expand and then suddenly they crashed into my body. I gasped for air as I opened my eyes in surprise. I could feel the tear drops creep through my body fixing all of the pain that my body previously suffered. The creeping finally stopped and I could breath and move properly. However, the black mark was no longer just on the back of my hands, it made its way up my arms. I lifted up my shirt and found that the blackness had spread to every part of my body. I had no choice now. I had to embrace my dark magic since it had now consumed every piece of light magic that I had within me. Chapter 19: The Second Test I had no knowledge of the type of path that I was now on, but I did now that there was no turning back for me. I looked around for any sign of the green fog, that would normally encircle me by now, but it was nowhere to be found. There was nothing but darkness. Then little lights began to appear on the ground, starting at my feet and leading off into the distance. I only saw about nine lights before they disappeared into the darkness. Thinking that this was part of my test I followed the lights. I found step close to, but not one the lights, and when I got to, what I thought was the end, more would appear. I followed these hundred plus lights until the path ended. I stood there looking around to see where I was, or why the lights led me to where I was, but there was nothing around. It was as if I never followed the light. Just then the scene in front of me began to slowly light up. The scene was enchanting. In front of me was a crystal clear waterfall with snow white mist rising from the bottom. It was surrounded by mint green grass, which had just been freshly cut, and above it all was a light blue sky without a single cloud in it. I could smell the freshly cut grass, the crashing of the water and even though there weren¡¯t any to be seen I swear I could hear bird singing in the distance. It all reminded me of the last holiday I took with my family before they both died in an accident. I reached my hand to touch the scene but it got stopped by a layer of glass. I could no longer hear any noise, I could only watch the waterfall move and the wind blow across the grass. The scene began to fade into blackness, and the only thing I could see at the end was my reflection against the glass. My long red hair was cut short and dyed black. My eyes had dark makeup surrounding them and my skin looked ghost white. My lips had a bright red colour on them, I was dressed in a tight black out and I had knee high black boots on. I did not look like myself but somehow this new reflection showed my true self. I made a small smile and then turned around to look away from the glass. But when I did I saw Linley standing there, frozen like a statue. On his face I could see that he was ready to fight if I made a single move towards him. ¡°Linley?¡± He turned his head, as if trying to figure out who I was. Then he looked down trying not to make eye contact with me. ¡°Linley it¡¯s me.¡± He still didn¡¯t look up, so I thought that I would help him out. ¡°It¡¯s Jasmine.¡± He looked up and started to look up and down me, trying to find something that represented my old self. But alas he couldn¡¯t find anything. ¡°Jasmine¡­What happened to you?¡± ¡°I gave into my dark magic.¡± He stepped up to me, grabbed my shoulders and as he shook me he said, ¡°Why would you do that?¡± ¡°I realized that I was more powerful when I used my dark magic.¡± ¡°Of course you are, that¡¯s what dark magic is more power with little to no effort. That is why I wanted you to train your light magic so that you would have that power, if not more, after learning how to properly control it.¡± ¡°But thanks to you and your training, I can properly control it.¡± ¡°As long as you know what you have gotten yourself into, there is nothing else I can say.¡± I turned around to ponder what Linley was telling me. But once again light began to slowly turn on behind the glass. Revealing an army of dragons with people in armor riding them standing on short rocky cliff. I felt scared and slightly terrified that I would have to face them. Nevertheless, I quickly remembered that there was glass between me and them. In moments they would fade away, like the waterfall, and I could return to talking with Linley. ¡®Any moment now¡­Any moment now¡­Any moment now¡­Why weren¡¯t they disappearing?¡¯ I spun on my heels to look at Linley with fear covering my face. Linley could see the scene too, and just like me he had a worried look on his face. ¡°JASMINE LOOK OUT!!!!¡± He jumped at me and wrapped himself around me as we hit the ground; hard. Inches away from Linley¡¯s head fire was blown. The fire was so hot that I could feel it burn against my face. When it stopped Linley stood up and yanked me off of the ground, so that I was standing up. We looked at each other and in agreement we faced the army and ran at full speed, to fight them to the death. The army began to charge at us as well. As they flew across the dark sky the dragons blew blazing fire at us while the people on their backs shot arrows at us. I jumped aside to avoid the speeding arrows and dropped flat to the ground to avoid the fire. When I got a clean shot, at either a dragon or a person, I would raise one of my hands at them and push my anger out at them. When I hit the people with my magic they fell off the dragons, dead; nevertheless, the dragons were harder to kill. Shortly after beginning the fight the dragons figured out that I would drop down to the ground to avoid their fire so they aimed for the ground- so I couldn¡¯t avoid it as easily. I would try and jump out of the way, like I did for the arrow, but the fire still caught me and would either burn right beside me or a piece of my clothes. I was so busy trying to keep myself alive that I never got an opportunity to see if Linley was still alive. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. I momentarily stopped and looked at the never ending army coming for us. Just then a bright white light shot in front of my face aiming for the sky. I looked beside me and saw Linley. ¡°Thanks¡± I said with a sigh of relief. ¡°This is far from over, there is no time to stop fighting. There¡¯s only time when all of these bastards are dead or you¡¯re dead. Understand?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Good!¡± Linley and I turned so that our backs were touching one another¡¯s and we protected each other from the charging army. If an arrow or fire came toward us the other one would reach behind them and push the other person out of the way so that they wouldn¡¯t get harmed. Throughout the battle black, white and orange would dance through the air as they attempted to hit their target. However, the longer the battle went on the more my arms got sore, and I could see that Linley was getting exhausted from using so much strength. The ground around us was drenched in dragon¡¯s blood and there were corpses everywhere. It was getting hard to dodge the fire because you would have to jump out of its line of fire while trying not to trip over a dead body. Nonetheless, the more dragon bodies that dropped the more places there were to hide from the living ones. I came out from behind a dead dragon¡¯s wing and I looked up. I then saw an arrow come directly for me, I didn¡¯t have enough time to jump out of the way so when it was just about to hit me I bend backwards, to let it pass above me; and in that moment time began to move in slow motion. When I stood back up time resumed at normal speed. Over the crying of the dying men and dragons I yelled, ¡°LINLEY HOW ARE YOU DOING?¡± There was no response, but I couldn¡¯t look behind me because there were multiple dragons aiming their fire at me. I ducked and rolled on the ground to get out of their path. When their fire stopped I stood up and aimed a hand at each dragon and shot my magic at them, forcing them to both come crashing down to the ground. I waited for a moment to see if I had to fight anything else before I turned to look at Linley. Since I wasn¡¯t in any immediate danger I turned around and saw Linley fighting out of ear shot of me. I ran over to him, since he was now being surrounded by men without dragons. There was light magic constantly shooting out of his hands and he didn¡¯t have anytime to recover, if he got grazed by an arrow, before he had to aim for something new. He was almost finished killing all of the men around him, but when he wasn¡¯t paying attention a dragon aimed its fire straight at him. I couldn¡¯t reach him in time before the fire hit his back. He screamed at the top of his lungs as his head shot back in pain. I increased my running speed to protect his dying body. As he fell slowly to the ground I cried out, ¡°LINLEY!!!!¡± When I finally reached him I killed the remaining men that surrounded his unconscious body. I dropped to the ground and hugged his body. In a quiet voice, that was hard to make out, Linley said, ¡°What are you doing? You should be fighting¡± He then began to cough up blood. I placed my finger on his bloody lips and said, ¡°Shhhh you shouldn¡¯t be talking right now. I would rather die with you then live without you.¡± He went to open his mouth to say something but all he could do was cough up blood. I hugged him again and whispered in his ear, ¡°I love you.¡± In my ear he said, ¡°I do too.¡± Just then I felt his body get heavy and become dead weight. His head dropped backwards and his hands fell off of my back. My eyes pooled with tears and they instantly fell down my face in sadness. I didn¡¯t even feel like fighting anymore, I just wanted to sit with Linley¡¯s dead body and not move. Suddenly I heard a crashing noise coming from above me. Through my tears I could see Gr¨¹nvolk flying through the sky and fighting for me. He bit the human¡¯s heads and threw them at full force off the backs of the dragons. As for the dragons he was fast enough to go around their fire whenever they shot it at them. Once he got close enough he would grab the dragons by their necks and shake them from left to right forcefully, then he would throw them aside and move onto the next dragon. I just sat on the ground and watched Gr¨¹nvolk obliterate the army that killed Linley. In no time at all Gr¨¹nvolk killed everyone. When the battle was officially over he flew over to me and landed close to me and Linley. Still holding onto Linley, I looked up to him and said, ¡°Thank you so much Gr¨¹nvolk. I owe you my life.¡± He bowed his head and then flew off in the direction that he came from. I leaned over Linley¡¯s body and refused to let go, because if I did he would really be dead. Just then the corpses and blood around me began to disappear, and everything became black again. When everything was gone the green fog came and surrounded me again. This time; however, I was ready to leave. Chapter 20: Dreams Come True I closed my eyes for a moment and when I opened them I was back in the cave where Linley and I trained my magic. I looked around optimistically hoping that I would be able to find Linley close to where I was; nevertheless, he was nowhere to be found. I walked a small while before I found the wall that I practiced aiming my magic at. So for fun I lifted my right hand and let a small amount of dark magic come out of it. Then I pretended that there was an enemy in front of me and I hit the wall with all of my strength. ¡°Wow, you¡¯re improving¡± said a voice behind me. Without thinking twice, I turned around and shot my magic at the person. They ducked quickly, to avoid being hit, and when they stood up I realized they were Linley. ¡°Oh my goodness, I¡¯m so sorry I almost hit you. But you really shouldn¡¯t sneak up behind people like that.¡± After a slight chuckle Linley said, ¡°Fair enough.¡± He took a step towards me and said, ¡°So are you ready?¡± I turned my head in confusion and didn¡¯t say a word. Seeing that I was drawing a blank Linley said, ¡°For attacking me with your magic.¡± ¡°I said I wasn¡¯t doing that.¡± ¡°By the way you were hitting that wall, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if you beat me.¡± I made a slight smile and asked, ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Maybe. You¡¯ll have to see yourself.¡± ¡°That¡¯s mean.¡± ¡°No its fair.¡± Taking another step towards me, he said, ¡°If you don¡¯t hit me with your magic I¡¯ll be forced to hit you with mine to motivate you enough to hit me.¡± As an attempt to mock him I put my hands up and said, ¡°Ooo I¡¯m so scared.¡± Just then I saw Linley make a ball of white light over his hand, and when I wasn¡¯t paying attention he hit my shoulder with it. He didn¡¯t hit me hard enough to make a mark or seriously injure me, but it still hurt. I laid my hand on my shoulder and said, ¡°Ow. I was joking.¡± ¡°Magic isn¡¯t something to joke about, it is something to be taken very seriously.¡± ¡°So hitting you is called being serious with magic.¡± ¡°Precisely.¡± ¡°Alright. But don¡¯t blame me if I hurt you.¡± ¡°I highly doubt that you will.¡± ¡°You better hold you tongue.¡± ¡°Oh really. Prove it. Hit me.¡± He paused and again he said, ¡°Hit me.¡± For a second time he paused and then said, ¡°Hit me Jasmine.¡± After taking the final step towards me, so that he was face to face with me he said, ¡°See you can¡¯t do it. You don¡¯t believe in yourself or your magic. You¡¯re weak and will always be weak. Don¡¯t even think about entering the eternal door of souls, you¡¯d never survive long enough to know what was going on.¡± The longer Linley taunted me the more irritated I became. I clenched my jaw and tightened my hands into fist trying not to use my magic against Linley. However, the more I held back the angrier I became until I finally snapped. ¡°SHUT UP!!!¡± I yelled as I aimed my hands at Linley. I had so much anger behind my magic that I actually sent Linley flying backwards; even though he had incredible balancing skills. He slammed into the ground a few feet back. When he stood up he said, ¡°That was great. Now, do it again.¡± Just then he began to run at me as full speed. Not knowing if he would hit me with his magic or not I got my hands ready to hit him if I needed to. Once he got close enough to me he jumped and with one arm he threw his magic at me. I jumped out of the way and landed on the ground. When he landed he kept trying to hit me. I rolled out of the way just enough every time. He stopped for a moment, and since I was on my back at this point I lifted my arms in his general direction and aimed for him. When he was avoiding my magic I quickly got back on my feet and got ready to fight. This went on for a while. Since I chose to go with dark magic it was much harder to stop, while fighting with someone, than light magic. So now that I had the taste of hitting Linley I enjoyed the feeling way too much to stop. I ran at him at full speed, with my hands behind me, and when I was about an arms length away from him and forcefully hit him. Again I sent him flying backwards. This time when he got up he looked exhausted and sore from being thrown back so many times. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. He had bruises covering he exposed arms and a thin layer of dirt covering his face and his hands. He put his hands up on surrender and said, ¡°Okay Jasmine you made your point, you can stop now.¡± Not being able to help myself I walked right up to him and once I was right beside him I built all of my magic and aimed all of my left over anger at him; while he was laying helplessly on the ground. In a flash there was a swarm of black and then Linley disappeared. The only thing that was left in his place was a single ball of light hovering above the ground. I looked at the ball of light proud of what I had done, not thinking about the consequences to my actions. Nonetheless, just as I was about to walk away I came to the realization of what I had done. I covered my mouth and dropped to my knees. In tears I wailed, ¡°What have I done?¡± I gently place my hand where Linley¡¯s head was and just quietly sat there as I absorbed what had happened during the last hour. Being killed by my magic reminded me about the nightmares that I had while I was actually with Linley. Although, unlike those times, I couldn¡¯t wake up. Linley was dead because of me. Sweat began to drip from my head and my hands started to shake uncontrollably. I curled into a ball and wrapped my arms around my bent knees. ¡°Linley¡¯s dead, he¡¯s really dead.¡± I began to slowly rock back and forth. I burst into tears again, from pain of losing the person I loved, and I cried into my knees. It took me a while to recover but when I did I lifted my head and with a shaking mouth I said to myself, ¡°He didn¡¯t survive the door. I am the only one left. He didn¡¯t survive the door. I have to move on. He didn¡¯t survive the door. I let him down¡± I paused for a brief moment and before crying again I said, ¡°He¡­Didn¡¯t¡­Survive¡­The¡­ Door.¡± Just then I felt the presents of someone close to me. They squatted next to me and said, in a deep voice, ¡°What¡¯s wrong.¡± Not being able to look up I said, ¡°I killed the person closest to me.¡± ¡°Well that is something to be upset about.¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t mind I just want to be alone.¡± ¡°I was going to tell you of a way to escape this place, but I can leave you alone if you¡¯d rather.¡± The person stood up and took one step away from me. I reached my arm towards their ankle and grabbed it, not wanting them to leave me. I lifted my head and said, ¡°Please don¡¯t go. I¡¯d like to know how to get out of here.¡± The person shifted their weight back towards me and said, ¡°That¡¯s what I thought.¡± I looked at the person and noticed that it was the wizard that greeted me when I first entered this place. In surprise I asked him, ¡°What are you doing here.¡± ¡°I am here to help you, like I said.¡± ¡°You said you could help me escape. How?¡± ¡°By having you complete the final test. If you pass it, like you have with your other two tests you can escape and go back home.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t feel like I¡¯ve won anything. Every thing that¡¯s happened has caused me to lose something.¡± Lifting his head up slightly the wizard said, ¡°Great sacrifice is needed to make someone stronger.¡± ¡°By great sacrifice you mean having my heart being broken on multiple occasions.¡± ¡°Exactly. It was the only way to get you to go down your rightful path for magic.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a cruel man, you know that.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you want to know want to know what the final test is?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The wizard hit his walking stick on the ground, which cause a gust of wind to blow back the dirt below us. When everything was cleared and we were surrounded by blackness he said, ¡°You must defeat me.¡± Chapter 21: The Final Test After my jaw dropped in surprise I said, ¡°How am I supposed to do that?¡± The wizard said, ¡°If you can defeat everything I throw at you and you can still fight, then I will admit defeat and you can finally escape this place. However, if you can¡¯t or you die while trying to defeat me your body will stay here and it will never be able to escape.¡± ¡°So it will be my magic against your magic?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°But that doesn¡¯t seem fair, you¡¯re so much more powerful than me, how am I supposed to defeat you?¡± ¡°Are you saying that you don¡¯t want to fight as a way to escape?¡± Slightly joking I said, ¡°I would prefer to just walk across a bridge and be home.¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s just not going to happen. It¡¯s either you fight or you don¡¯t escape those are your only two options.¡± I sighed and said, ¡°I guess I¡¯ll fight then.¡± The wizard said ¡°good¡± as he raised his walking stick into the air. Suddenly a saw a shock of electricity moved its way from the bottom to the top of the stick and blasted into the air above him. Once the electricity was completely off of the stick it formed a thin circle and it started to spin. Faster and faster it spun. In a blink of an eye the electricity turned into a falcon. The falcon hovered above its master waiting for instructions. The wizard pointed his stick towards me, which was more than enough to get the bird to swoop down for an attack on my head. Its big brown wings were spread out further than my arms and its legs were bent up against its stomach so that its sharp black talons were ready to attack its prey; which was me. I aimed my magic at the bird, which made it just miss my head. It flew upwards to circle around. This time when it flew at me it made an ear piercing call that made me cover my ears, so that I was defenseless against its attack. Its talons dug into my hair and pulled it as hard as it could. Letting go of one ear I waved my hand back and forth as I tried to hit the bird, without looking at it. I guess my magic hit it gently because it let go and flew up again. Not letting it fly at me again I straightened my left arm, with my right arm on my left elbow, and aimed my magic at the bird as hard as I could. My dark magic swarmed the bird, leaving it nowhere to go, and then crushed it. When it disappeared all that was left was a puff of smoke. The wizard, who just stood still and watched the whole thing, started to clap slowly and then said, ¡°Good job. That was my easiest trick, now get read for something on your same level.¡± The wizard aimed his walking stick a good distance away from him, and then shot electricity out of it again. This time what appeared was a single ogre holding a red boomerang. I couldn¡¯t help but giggle a bit when I saw the boomerang. ¡®Such a useless weapon, why would the wizard think that this would be a challenge?¡¯ Just then the ogre threw the boomerang at me at incredible speed. The wizard said, ¡°Don¡¯t let that thing touch you because it can cut through a wall of concrete and it has poison covering every inch of it. Only those immune to the poison can touch it.¡± Before I could turn my head back to the ogre it threw the boomerang at me again, this time just missing my neck. Instead of catching it, the ogre let the boomerang whip around its head and move on its own. When the ogre was out of the path of the boomerang it began to charge at me. So now not only did I have to avoid an object moving at a speeding pace but I also had to fight an ogre. ¡®Great¡¯ I thought. The ogre came stomping towards me with massive force, shaking the ground beneath me. It didn¡¯t come up to me yet; however, the ogre smashed its powerful fists into the ground; causing me to lose my balance. When I was on the ground the boomerang whipped to the ground just above the ground. Once it started to move upwards I got back up to my feet and got ready to fight the ogre. Once it saw that I was not giving up, the ogre charged at me as fast as it could. Since the boomerang was coming towards me, at the same time, I moved out of the way but the ogre managed to hit me in the stomach with its head sending me flying backwards. ¡®What do I do? Take out the poisonous boomerang or the ogre? The boomerang can cut me clean through, while it poisons me, or the ogre can crush me to death. Hmmm though call.¡¯ Ultimately I decided to take care of the boomerang first, since the ogre was slower and would take more time to defeat. I steadied my stance and waited until the boomerang came close enough to me. It came violently spinning at me, so I dodged it and waited until it changed its direction. I prepared my aim and fired my magic at it in a line, in case I missed. Just like the falcon, when my magic hit it, it disappeared and turned into a puff of smoke. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I turned my head towards the ogre and thought, ¡®Now for you.¡¯ I stood there for a moment to see what the ogre would do. It too froze for a moment and just stared at me. I made an angry face at it and formed my hands into fists, in case it all of a sudden charged at me. Which thankfully I did because it roared at the top of its lungs and then charged at me. I glanced over at the wizard and he was just standing there watching me with a big grin on his face, as if he was enjoying the show. I looked back at the ogre and began to allow my magic to come out of my hands. I ran it as fast as I could as well. When we got close enough to each other, the ogre raised its hands to smash down on me, but little did it know I had other plans. Just before I could reach it I slid on my stomach and went between its spread legs. My feet weren¡¯t fully on the other side of the ogre¡¯s body; however, I was still able to flip on my back and aim my magic at the back of its head with all of my strength. Not knowing what happened to it, the ogre roared and stumbled backwards; which caused me to move out of its way. I rolled and rolled until I knew the ogre wouldn¡¯t step on me. Then I quickly got up and ran towards it again. This time I constantly aimed my magic at it and hit the ogre as many times as I possibly could before I came face to face with it. I stopped to see if the ogre was strong enough to take another hit. Since it took a step towards me, it was. So I just stood there and aimed both of my hands at the ogre and imaged that it killed Linley. The black magic swarmed the ogre and every time it tried to take a step away from it, the darkness would follow it and stop it. As I watched what was happening I just kept my hands where they were until the ogre disappeared. Thinking that the darkness was a type of bug the ogre began to swat at it, but this just made the darkness surround it faster. The ogre roared in frustration; however, before it could stop the blackness moved down its throat and began to kill it from the inside. I stopped and watched the darkness destroy the ogre piece by piece. Until finally, the ogre exploded and became a puff of smoke. In exhaustion I turned towards the wizard and yelled, ¡°IS THAT ALL YOU¡¯VE GOT?¡± ¡°Well since you asked, no. I saved the best for last.¡± ¡°Okay, what do I have to fight this time?¡± The wizard didn¡¯t say a word, instead he just pointed his walking stick and watched the next thing come to life. My brother. I looked at my brother and back at the wizard. ¡°How the fuck am I supposed to fight my brother? He¡¯s family.¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly why I chose him. For the final battle you have to fight flesh and blood, and since you already fought yourself to get here it doesn¡¯t count.¡± He paused and walked over to my brother. Putting a hand on my brother¡¯s shoulder the wizard said, ¡°If you truly want to escape you have to kill your brother.¡± My brother put his hands up in protest and said, ¡°Woah now, I didn¡¯t sign of up for this.¡± ¡°Shut up you fool¡± the wizard snickered. ¡®I¡¯ve already lost Linley and I really don¡¯t want to lose the only family I have. But if I don¡¯t do this I¡¯ll never be to able to see anyone every again.¡¯ The wizard hit his wrist with his pointer finger, repeatedly, and sang, ¡°tick tock the time goes by, who will live and who will die. Tick tock the time goes by, who will live and who will die.¡± ¡°Shut Up!¡± I yelled at the wizard. I walked towards my brother, and with every step I took my eyes began to fill with tears. Until I couldn¡¯t bare looking at my brother anymore, because I knew what I had to do. I didn¡¯t even say goodbye to my brother before I aimed my magic at him. I watched it completely consume him, and it wasn¡¯t long until he was gone; forever. I couldn¡¯t say anything further. I just dropped to my knees and cried. Tears poured down my face into my hands, which were covering my face. Over top of my crying I heard the wizard say, ¡°You can now go home.¡± He faded away before I could yell at him again. I just sat there and cried until I could make out florescent pink light peaking through my hands. I looked up and say a pink hallway. I slowly got up and walked towards it. Being cautious I stepped one foot at a time into the hallway, and once I was all the way in a force pulled me forwards. I sped through the hallway, not knowing where I was going until the force shot me out of the hallway and into a field. I just laid there for a moment and looked at the blue sky above me. As I soaked in the beauty above me I thought. ¡®I¡¯m back.¡¯