The evening sky glowed a deep orange.
The setting sun painted the world in a fleeting beauty — a picture of warmth before night devoured it whole.
And beneath that dying light, a lone figure sat beneath a tree.
Blood soaked his body.
His arms and legs were shattered, twisted at impossible angles.
His face — half crushed.
Only one eye remained open, staring calmly at the countless mages surrounding him.
A thin layer of a translucent shield flickered around him — the only thing holding back hundreds of furious mages, all thirsting for his blood.
“Hello, my friends,” he said.
His mouth curved into a smile, leaking blood and broken teeth.
“I know you all wanted to meet me.”
He shifted slightly — the motion barely visible.
“But it seems this big shield is stopping me from greeting you properly.”
A chorus of teeth grinding filled the air.
“You coward!” someone shouted from the crowd. “Remove your shield and fight like a man!”
Edal turned his head toward the voice.
A tall, broad-shouldered man stood there — more warrior than mage.
“Oh, Chief,” Edal wheezed, recognizing him. “Sorry about what happened with your wife.”
He tried to laugh but ended up coughing blood.
“We were young back then… I didn’t know she was married, I swear!”
He attempted to raise his broken hand to his head in mock apology — and failed miserably.
The crowd began whispering.
Eyes darted toward the chief, faces shifting with realization and shame.
Rage twisted the man’s face. Mana surged violently around him.
The mana burst outward, scorching the air.
A massive fireball formed above his hand, blazing like a miniature sun.
With a roar, he hurled it at Edal.
The explosion shook the earth—
—but when the light faded, the shield still stood.
Not a crack.
However, no one noticed the faint, blurry shadow slipping through the barrier and vanishing into the crowd.
Edal chuckled weakly.
“I know you all hate me,” he said. “And… I don’t deny I’ve done things worth hating.”
His one eye flickered with strange light.
“This shield won’t last long. I’ll die here soon enough. So before that—”
He smiled faintly.
“Would you listen to a story? Just one, from an old man.”
No one moved.
They couldn’t break the shield anyway.
All eyes turned toward the two elders at the front of the crowd.
One of the elders spoke first.
“He’s right. The shield will hold for maybe fifteen minutes. Not worth wasting mana to break it.”
He glanced at his companion. Neither wanted to be the first to strike a dying monster.
The second elder crossed his arms.
“Edal,” he said, “you’re my enemy. But to reach such heights with such weak mana core… that takes true effort and hard work. For that, I’ll grant your last wish.”
Edal leaned back against the tree.
His voice softened.
“I was born in a small village,” he began.
“My parents were poor. They worked hard just to keep food on the table. Then one day, my little sister fell sick — really sick.”
He paused, his eye distant.
“The village doctor said only a healing potion or a mage could save her. But those things were luxuries for nobles. My parents almost gave up.”
“I was only seven. I didn’t understand much… but I’ll never forget the look in their eyes.”
He exhaled slowly.
“Then a traveling merchant passed through the village. He heard about my sister and wanted to help — but he was still a merchant. So he offered a deal.”
Edal’s smile turned bitter.
“He’d pay for the cure, but if my parents couldn’t repay him within a year… he’d take one of their children instead.”
He looked down at his bloodied hands.
“My parents accepted. They thought, we might lose a child next year — but if we don’t, we’ll lose one today.”
The crowd fell silent.
Some of the anger had faded from their faces.
“You can guess the rest,” Edal said softly. “I became the payment. A slave.”
He laughed quietly to himself.
“But I was lucky. My master wasn’t cruel. He showed me the world beyond my village. He even helped me when I awakened my core.”
A faint glimmer crossed his eye.
“After all, a merchant with a loyal mage is a profitable thing.”
He looked up at the dimming shield.
“That man — my master — once told me a story. About life.”
The crowd waited.
Edal continued, “He said, once, a beautiful woman stood on a bridge, ready to end her life. A poor man saw her and asked why. She told him her story, her pain. And when she finished, he said—”
Edal grinned faintly.
“‘If you’re going to die anyway, why not spend your last night with me?’”
The mages frowned.
“She shouted at him, called him vile, told him to leave. So he started walking away — not along the road, but down under the bridge.”
“She called after him, asking where he was going.”
“He said, ‘If I get there first, I can enjoy your body while it’s still warm.’ Then he left.”
Everyone stared, baffled.
Finally, one of the elder spoke.
“And… what exactly is the lesson in that story?”
Edal’s grin widened.
“Lesson?”
He laughed — a rasping, broken sound.
“NOTHING, YOU FOOLS!”
Darkness exploded outward.
A shadow spread from the ground, swallowing everything.
Screams echoed through the black.
Then - blinding light.
A vast magic circle appeared beneath them, stretching farther than eyes could see.
The entire area shimmered with runes of unimaginable complexity.
Realization struck like lightning.
“It’s a high-level spell!”
Panic surged through the crowd.
One of the elder shouted, “Impossible! You can’t cast that with your weak core!”
Edal’s laughter echoed from within the darkness.
“You’re right. I can’t.”
His voice grew colder.
“But I can power it with a few hundred mages… and two very strong elders.”
Those were the last words they heard before their bodies disintegrated — their mana cores rising into the dark like a sky full of stars.
A small shadow emerged and took the form of a cat.
“Master Edal,” it said softly, “I hope your experiment succeeds — and you’ll see the true magic.”
Edal smiled gently.
“Obsi…This is might be our last moments together.”
Around them, the glowing cores began to merge — hundreds fusing into two giant ones.
"Even if the spell is successful, I don't know if I can meet you again, I guess, that's only thing I am sad about."
Edal stood between them, his body melting away with the magic, looking at little cat.
he said quietly, “I always wanted to see true magic. To see its true limits.”
Sad smile appeared on his face "but With my weak core, no resources, none to guide towards right direction"
"I could only take path of monster"
He looked down "look at me now, I really became monster and still couldn't break limits of my weak core"
He looked at sky "however my thirst for magic never waned - not even once"
His eye shone with fire.
“And today, Either I will see true magic"
Only his upper body remained now, burning with light.
“Or I will die.”
"But I don't regret it"
The cat’s form trembled.
The cat’s form trembled. It remembered the boy, the man, the monster. Going through all the sad, happy, scary, and exciting things alone. But his mad curiosity for magic remained the same, he gave up everything for magic, and today, his life too.
“It was an honor to be your familiar,” Obsi whispered.
Edal’s lips moved one last time.
“Thank you… and goodbye.”
Their voices faded.
Then, silence.
A moment later, the world erupted in blinding radiance — the spell of space and time consuming everything.
Powered by hundreds of mages and elders, it shone brilliantly in the evening sky for one final moment…
…and then it all vanished.
Comments
Post a Comment