by K Dezendorf
The creature took another stab at her legs and pain flared in the back of her calf.
Rose cried out as she stumbled, feeling the weapon pull back out, tearing at muscle and flesh.
Landing on her hands and knees, Rose mentally cursed as she rolled over to face the thing. She tried to scramble back but her leg was on fire and the creature was still advancing.
Rose didn’t have any weapons to defend herself, and worse yet, she was alone.
“Kyan,” she whispered, her panic rising. “Please, help me.”
Seconds passed, and he didn't appear, confirming what she was afraid to be true. He truly was gone.
“Dammit…” Rose muttered. How many times was the world going to knock her down? How many monsters did she have to face down before she’d be free from the pain they inflicted on her? What was worse, Kyan wasn’t there to help her anymore.
‘Calm down,’ a voice in her head scolded her. ‘You know how magic works. You’ve seen it done time and time again. You now have the tools, so use it!’
Rose thought about Jenkto. The idea of turning someone’s mind against them.
‘Get up.’
It was incredibly difficult, but Rose stood, and the creature who had been slowly advancing stilled, waiting to see what she would do.
‘Take a deep breath, and bring in the mana.’
Rose took a deep breath, and she welcomed that warm, exhilarating sensation of mana filling her body, dulling the pain, making her stronger. She recalled Billy’s words, focusing on what she wanted the magic to do for her.
‘Feed your intent into the magic,’ the voice instructed. ‘That fear you feel, let it be a weapon against your enemy.’
It was like someone was right there, guiding her breathing, her movements. Raising her hand out towards the creature, she used her fear and anger and sadness as a focus.
The creature raised its spear, readying to strike.
The mana swirled around inside of her, taking shape. As Rose began to cast she saw several small aberrations manifesting around her. Solid enough to be known but translucent enough that she could see through them. They were unlike anything she'd seen before, amalgamations of things she recognized, making them both familiar and alien.
There wasn’t time to think, or question what was happening. Rose focused to keep hold of that feeling, that intent, and then she cast.
The magic flowed from her fingertips as she focused on pushing dark thoughts into her opponent’s mind. In that moment, she wanted this creature to feel as afraid and helpless as she had for so many years.
The phantoms pounced, leaving streaks of pearlescence in their wake, following the flow of her mana towards the larger creature. They swarmed around its head in a frenzy, slithering inside. The creature stumbled, blinking. A strange hush fell over the beach, and for a moment, neither of them moved. Then the creature’s eyes widened as it looked down at itself and started screaming.
Rose cringed at the sound as it dropped its spear and fled to the water. She heard several splashing sounds, and the screaming abruptly stopped.
Unsure if the thing was really gone or not, Rose glanced around to see if there was anything else. The only thing left was one of the aberrations. It reminded her of Kyan with its macabre appearance. Large eye sockets with black tears running down into its jagged crack of a mouth, and from its bald head sprouted three small trees, the leaves burning with a pale purple fire. It stared at her and she stared back. She reached out her hand to it and it scuttled forward, it's little clawed fingers brushing hers. Rose felt an echo of what she felt before when she’d read The Book, that sense of knowing. So close, yet just out of reach. Then it vanished without a trace, leaving Rose alone on the beach.
The last of her strength left with the tiny phantom as Rose collapsed face first into the sand. Her wounds were on fire and her body felt so heavy. It had gotten dark, and she could barely see the outline of Billy’s cabin, the windows beacons of light shining through the darkness.
No matter how she tried, she couldn’t seem to summon enough strength to pull herself off the ground. So she focused instead on breathing. Even though there was no one to see her cry, Rose still tried to put on a brave face and grit her way through the pain and lethargy.
Rose heard footsteps and Billy’s voice calling out to her. She looked up to see him walking in her general direction with a torch.
“Here!” She forced the word out as loudly as she could. “I’m here!”
Billy rushed over to her, the torchlight illuminating the worry on his face. “Child!” He crouched down beside her. “By the Lore, what have you gotten into?"
“Something stabbed me,” she explained, her breath sending puffs of sand scattering. “It’s really hard to move.”
“Hold on, let me see what I can do for you.” Rose saw the soft white glow of life magic and felt the warm pulse through her body. Slowly the fiery pain ebbed away and her body felt lighter.
He didn’t heal all the damage, but at least she was able to move again.
“Come on, back to the cabin with you,” Billy urged.
It was a bit awkward due to his height, but he was able to get Rose up and helped her back to the cabin.
As they stepped inside, Rose was met with a delicious aroma and saw Billy already had dinner ready and waiting for them at the table.
“Care to explain what happened?” Billy asked, shutting the door and wiping the sweat off his brow. “I heard screaming and came looking for you.”
Rose hurriedly shook her head, trying to maintain her brave face. "It's nothing. No big deal.”
"You call that ‘no big deal’?” he asked, gesturing at her injuries. “What happened to your leg, and your arm?"
"I..."
"Don't tell me you fell down a flight of stairs. Or ran into a door."
Rose flushed bright red. Those were the kind of excuses she'd been using for so many years. But few, if any, had ever called her out on them.
"No, um... I got stabbed by a... fish... frog... lizard... man thing. It came from the ocean."
"Ah... betcha it was a troglodyte. Nasty little sea folk. They usually hang out in small caves or near water. They like shiny or colorful things."
"Oh..." So that was why the little one had stolen her phone.
"Usually they're not highly aggressive, per say. They won't just go out and kill things. But they'll do what they want, to who they want, to get what they want."
"Gotcha." Rose rubbed near the still very sore and tender wound on her leg.
"I told you this place was dangerous. What happened?"
"A little troglodyte grabbed my phone and I chased after it,” Rose explained reluctantly. “I got it back but then I ran into its scary older brother, or something. I tried running. Then he stabbed me and I scared him off using a spell."
"Oi..." Billy took a moment to rub his eyes. "Child, you can’t go wandering off by yourself like that. What if he had wanted to hurt you, worse than this? What was stoppin’ him?"
Rose chewed on her lip, not knowing what to say. This was it. She screwed up and now she was going to pay for it.
"I can't be there every moment of every day." His tone was so severe.
"I know. I..." She realized her body had started curling in on itself, bracing for something to be thrown other than words.
"If you’re going to be a Wayfinder, then you can’t afford to be impulsive or reckless. You need to always be aware of your surroundings.” He sighed. "Maybe you're not ready for this."
Rose felt a stab of panic, sharper than the troglodyte's spear. "No, I am ready! I’m still learning, that’s all."
"In your human world everyone goes about their own business. You got a few bad eggs here and there, from what I can tell. But you’ve got no big problems. The Umbra used to be like that, but now you can't trust anything that breathes. Kill or be killed. Although there are civilized societies here and there, you never know what you’ll run into out in the wild."
> "Right." Rose was feeling sick to her stomach. She felt guilty and ashamed.
Billy heaved another sigh. “Come on, then. I’ve got dinner all prepared.”
"Actually, if it's all the same to you, I'm gonna go to bed. I'm not feeling hungry right now."
Billy looked like he was about to insist, but seemed to think better of it. "All right. It'll be here for you in the morning."
"Thank you," she mumbled. She curled up in bed, hiding her tears as she tried to go to sleep, reflecting on Billy's words.
‘He won’t abandon you,’ that scolding part of her consciousness told her.
Rose only wished the rest of her felt so confident in that statement.
Chapter 16
Rose had a fitful night's sleep. Around dawn she gave up and got out of bed. Quietly as she could, she grabbed her journal and snuck out the door, careful not to disturb Billy who was snoring away.
The sunrise was beautiful, the light causing the water to glisten and the sandy shore to sparkle. There was a cool, gentle morning breeze and the smell of salty brine tickled her nose.
She sat just outside the door and sketched in her journal in order to help her process everything that had happened so far with her training.
She did a few doodles of the rabid dog-chairs as well as the evil zombie chicken. Then she did a sketch of the sunrise on the beach, adding a little troglodyte into the picture playing with her cellphone. Looking it over, she recalled the strange little spirits she saw when she had cast her magic. She tried sketching the one she remembered most, the mini Kyan, poised and ready to jump the unassuming troglodyte.
As she sketched, she was more vigilant than usual, hoping not to run into any more trouble. It got brighter and she heard noises from inside the cabin. Sure enough, the door opened and Billy came outside. He saw her, looked at her for a second, and nodded before going back inside.
Rose couldn't help but smile at Billy’s concern. He was really starting to grow on her. She didn’t feel unsafe around him at least. He also made really good food. She found she didn’t want to disappoint him. She wanted to be able to stay here, to prove she could belong. If she couldn’t belong here, then what was even the point anymore?
Once she felt calm enough, Rose closed the sketchbook and went back inside.
Billy had already started breakfast, and hers was waiting on the table. The leftovers from last night as well as some eggs. He didn't say a word as Rose sat down, thanked him for the meal, and began to eat. After several bites, she took a deep breath.
"I know I messed up yesterday. But I want you to know that I'm serious about this. And I'm willing to do anything to prove that."
"All right," he answered and continued slowly eating.
"So you're not angry?" she asked hesitantly.
Billy paused in his meal, leveling his gaze at her. "Child, why should I be angry?"
Rose shrugged. "Cuz I screwed up?"
"If I had to choose an emotion, I'd probably say a little sad. But not angry."
This confused Rose. "Why sad?"
"The fact that I don't think you're going to last too long if you stay here in the Umbra. And I'm sad at the thought of you not makin’ it."
Rose was stunned by his words and she marveled at how he was actually worried about her. He actually did care what happened to her.
"There's nothing I can do other than to try and teach you, help you get stronger."
"I will," she insisted. "Like I said, I'm serious about staying. Just tell me what I can do to fix this."
"You stay alive, and stay safe,” he said seriously. "As a Wayfinder involved in possible warfare, you have the lives of many other people in your hands. You have to be the source of movement in dangerous situations. You are the person to save people and get them to safety, or get them where they need to be. If you die, then who will help all those other people? Mistakes you make will have consequences for others.”
Rose looked down at the plate of food, nudging it around with her fork. She knew Wayfinders were considered important, but she hadn’t appreciated just how involved the position was. “I didn’t realize Wayfinders were used for that sort of thing.”
“Typically, no. Our circumstances are definitely unique in this case. There hasn’t been war in the Umbra in ages. Your average Wayfinder will find work as merchants or power brokers. The skill is rare, it’s difficult to learn, but highly prized if you manage to get to that level.”
“I understand,” she said quietly. “I’ll try to be more careful in the future.”
“Like I said before, here in the Umbra, at least away from the towns and cities, it's a kill or be killed world. And with those monstrosities, those Gorgers, coming around, and killing everyone, everything's starting to become haywire. My home… My family was one of many casualties.”
Rose covered her mouth with one hand. “I am so sorry,” she murmured.
He waved away her apology. “That’s why I’m saying, it’s becoming much more savage and primal here. You got to always be on guard."
"So, does that mean you’ll continue to train me?” she asked, hopeful.
Billy nodded. “Aye, I’m planning to see this through, for better or worse. From the sound of things, you’ve already managed one successful casting, but that was most likely dumb luck. So, we’ll continue working on your breathing as well as using the cognition spell. Once you’re able to cast multiple times successfully, then we can continue on to the next step.”
************
For the next few days, Rose was bounced back and forth between Billy’s cabin in the Umbra and the warehouse in the human world. When he wasn’t working with her on her breathing or casting, Rose was left alone for hours at a time while Billy went off to do his Wayfinder duties. He only ever left her alone in the warehouse, not wanting a repeat of what happened on the beach.
It was harder to practice casting when Billy wasn’t there, but she tried anyway. She lingered in the portal room, breathing the mana trickling in from the Umbra. If she got bored with that, she used the large warehouse to keep in shape, whether it was laps around the room, or sprinting from wall to wall.
Her sketchbook continued to fill up, some of the pages depicting several of the people she caught Billy bringing through, despite how quickly he tried to ferry them through to prevent as little interaction with Rose as possible. Her best sketch was the one she was currently working on, an image of herself, back to the viewer, arms raised high as multiple doors and windows to other worlds opened all around her, with only hintings of what lay beyond in each one. The sketch of her was a bit rough, the lines deep and aggressive. No surprise since she started the drawing feeling completely frustrated.
Rose tried not to be impatient, but she was annoyed at Billy’s obvious shielding. Never taking her on his errands, not letting her interact with his clients for more than a few seconds, if that. She’d been at this for nearly a week and she still had little experience being an actual Wayfinder. With how often Billy was gone some days, it felt like being back at her old house all over again. Left to her own devices.
“Child, ready for your training?”
Billy had finally returned.
“Yes, please,” Rose said quickly, burying her frustration and sporting a smile. As irritated as she was, her eagerness to learn magic burned stronger.
The training was the same every day, trying to guess cards for hours on end. Card, after card, after card. Then, finally, when she cast, Rose got this hazy image in her head, like a memory.
“Mountain,” she declared. Billy turned the card around to show her a picture of a mountain. Rose screamed with joy and excitement for getting it right.
Billy laughed. "Now you only need to do that 49 more times in a row."
"Oi..." she sighed, rubbing her head. However, she shook it off. "Let's try again. I wanna keep going."
Billy nodded and they kept going. They continued this well into the evening. The best streak she got was 34 out of 50 right.
Rose leaned back in her chair, sighing in mild frustration at not managing to get all of them.
"Don't be so disappointed, child. It's taken others far longer than this to accomplish what you've just done."
She smoothed her hair back from her face. "Really?"
"Aye. Yours is a very... adaptable race. And being plane-touched as you are certainly doesn't hurt either."
It also probably didn’t hurt that she had seen magic practiced many times before. She’d have to remember to thank Macklass and his siblings later for that. Although, something had been bothering her.
“Um, when I accidentally cast magic on that troglodyte, I saw… things. A lot of them. At first I thought they might attack me, but when I cast, they went after the troglodyte. It felt like they did something to him.”
Billy’s brow furrowed. “Interesting. I didn’t think you’d be seeing them this soon. But... you are bonded with a Guardian, so maybe that’s why… hmm…”
“What? So that was normal?” she pressed.
“Yes and no. What you saw were what we call ‘manifesters’. They are the final piece of the puzzle that is magic. The first being the mana, and the second being the mage. Most mages don’t start seeing manifesters until they start getting into the really big magics. And even then sometimes they don’t.”
“Why not?” Rose asked. “Is it difficult?”
“Depends. Some folk think magic is an impersonal force. Something to utilize. Those people are idiots. Magic is a contract, a joint effort between mage and manifester to take mana and bring change to the world.”
Rose looked off to the side, hoping one of the manifesters would appear like they had that one night. “But… I haven't seen them since.”
“One step at a time, child. Learn to paddle before you go swimming in deep waters.” Billy tapped the table with his hand. "Let's call it a night. I'll make us some dinner."
Another flicker of irritation sparked in her gut. Rose ducked her head, hoping it hadn’t shown on her face. “Dinner sounds great.”
