<u>Chapter Nine: Magicless</u>


    Ash walked with hands in his pockets, shoulders slumped, and head down. He stayed near the back because he didn’t want to hear the others talking about how amazing it was to be able to use magic.


    “Oh, I’m sorry, elar,” Ash mocked under his breath.


    Dawn''s light played across the trees and road, and a gentle breeze tousled the party''s clothes and hair. It was once again a beautiful morning, and Ash did not feel it.


    In the past day, his Aunt and Uncle, who had been there for him his whole life, had been killed by monsters. What made it so much worse was that he didn’t know why.


    He would have to become a bronze-ranked adventurer to find a clue because that was the only way the person who knew anything would tell him.


    How was he supposed to do that if he couldn’t use this mysterious elar? He could feel his elan, that winter light within him. He could find it far more quickly now than the night before. He experimented as he walked and discovered he didn’t need to be sitting to do it.


    It was as simple as reaching out with his mind.


    He cocked his head, his attention landing on a smooth blue stone in the road. It stood out sharply against the brown and grey of the road. He reached down, plucked it up, and bounced it in his palm.


    Morning light glinted off the stone, making it shimmer.


    Removing a cloth from his pack, he rubbed the stone, admiring how it shined even brighter as he did.


    When he left his desolate home, he had been forced to leave his collection behind.


    He could start collecting again; the stone was awfully shiny. He slipped it into his pack, keeping a lookout for more interesting rocks.


    “Why do you do that?”


    Nick had fallen back a few steps to walk by his side. His ebony skin had a slight sheen in the light; in a way, he was like a shiny stone himself, to Ash’s eye anyway.


    No, stop it. You cannot collect Nick. He hadn’t at all been considering it.


    Ash cleared his throat.


    “I like rocks, that’s all.”


    Nick grunted,


    “My Ma, she used to collect these carved figurines from soapstone or any stone. She’d set them up on the mantle, like a tiny army up there.”


    Nick flicked a finger at his pack,


    “Seems like somethin’ you could do with that stone.”


    Ash opened his mouth in horror at the suggestion.


    “But…then they’d be different! What if they didn’t shine anymore?”


    Nick stared at him, then he threw his head back and laughed, his body shaking.


    Ash looked away, face heating up; he rubbed the back of his neck.


    “You’re a weird one, Ash Lorcan. Do what you will with your shiny rocks; light knows it’s not my business.”


    Rosalia giggled, covering her mouth, and Ash looked ahead to see her playfully shove Will, who was grinning a boyish grin.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    “Ooh, someone’s mighty jealous.”


    Ash blinked, ducking his head and twiddling his fingers together.


    “What? No. Of course not!”


    Nick clapped him on the shoulder,


    “You have it bad, my friend. Anyone with eyes can see that. You should tell her.”


    Ash tightened his shoulders,


    “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Nick.”


    “You can deny it till you''re blue in the face; you’re convincin’ nobody. But if you don’t put yourself out there, I can promise you this: someone else will.”


    Ahead, Will gave an elegant bow, and Rosalia giggled again.


    Cold seeped into his veins, and his eyes became frost.


    “Shadow, take me, but you look fierce when your face does that.”


    Ash blinked,


    “What?”


    Nick pointed at him,


    “Your face. I’ve never seen you angry before, but it goes blank like that, and your eyes gain this frosty look. It’s hard to describe, but it’s like a hungry wolf in winter.”


    “I don’t look like that.”


    Nick shrugged,


    “Whatever you say, man. But can I share with you what I’ve learned over the past day?”


    It was Ash’s turn to shrug. Nick’s face sobered, his eyes gaining a serious edge to them.


    “Life is short. You and me and Rosalia? We’re all young, and we think we have forever to live. We don’t, Ash. Last night proved that, and I have a naggin’ feelin’ in my gut that says things will only get more dangerous. Take your chances because the clock is gonna keep tickin’, and eventually, there won’t be time for any more chances.”


    With that, Nick quickened, moving ahead and leaving Ash to think.


    ___________


    Purple smoke curled into the air above Deharra. Ash knew then that they wouldn’t find anything suitable. The village hadn’t been significant.


    Which is why it likely hadn’t taken a lot of effort to burn down.


    Corpses littered the streets, burnt husks that hardly resembled anything human. Ashes blew in the slight breeze, and Rosalia coughed, covering her mouth in horror, green eyes wide as she looked around.


    Tears began to form in the corner of her eyes.


    Nick looked grim as if he were attempting to burn the scene into his memory.


    Some of the corpses weren’t burnt, their faces masks of terror, guts spilling from their stomachs, flies buzzing around them. The stench was so foul that Ash wretched, and Will’s face went white as freshly washed bed sheets.


    Amalia merely swept her gaze around the town as they walked, as if none of it touched her.


    “We…We..should look for survivors,” Ash croaked.


    “There are none,” was Amalia’s steely response.


    Ash stopped in the road, nails digging into his palms.


    “Doesn’t this bother you? That’s a child!”


    He pointed to the ripped-open chest of a young child no more than ten years old in a ditch.


    Amalia turned to face him, violet eyes as hard as gemstones. She said nothing, which caused the cold within him to intensify, like ice that burned your skin when you touched it.


    “Why does none of this bother you? Are you a human? When you tell stories, your voice comes alive with emotion; you can tell you’re a person. But this! You may as well be stone with how you’re acting!”


    “Are you done?”


    Ash felt a knuckle pop, and he forced out a breath.


    “Yeah, I guess I am.”


    Amalia nodded,


    “We have some ways to go, and all this talk is nothing but a delay.”


    She turned away from him, and they continued.


    Ash did his best to put the nightmare around him out of his mind.


    But no matter what he did, he couldn’t entirely ignore the smell of burnt flesh or get the image of a child’s dead eyes out of his mind.


    _________


    “You want us to train? I think we could all use a break tonight, Miss Amalia.” Rosalia’s voice had a pleading note, but it earned nods from everyone.


    Ash especially did not want to train. He wanted to curl up into a ball and weep.


    Amalia looked around her, expression as stoic as any statue.


    “Do you think the monsters that burned down that village and butchered its children asked them what they wanted?”


    Rosalia stared, then blinked hard, lost for words.


    “What does that have to do with the price of milk?” Will asked.


    “I wonder how many of those people would still be alive if they had the strength to defend themselves.”


    Rosalia gasped, and Nick interjected angrily,


    “Shadows, woman! They shouldn’t have had to! Don’t go blamin’ them now; they were innocent!”


    “Oh? And did that matter very much when the monsters came knocking?” Amalia shook her head and banged her staff once against the ground, a dull thump echoing around them as a small puff of dirt dispersed into the air.


    “Hear me, children. There are bad things all across Dominion. Evil, dark things that care not for innocence or whether a thing is moral or immoral. They will kill you, and some of them will eat you if given the opportunity. They will burn down your farms and villages, slaughtering your loved ones before your eyes. It matters not if this should happen. It matters not if it is hard to see. These monsters do not care. All it boils down to is whether or not you’re strong enough to defend yourself, your loved ones, and your homes.”


    She swept her gaze around, meeting each of their eyes.


    “Shirk your training if you wish, but ask yourself: will you be strong enough to face the monsters when they come again? For they surely will, and they will not give you a break just because you had a hard day.”


    Ash shared looks with the others, and almost as one, they sighed and dropped to the ground.


    Amalia nodded in satisfaction as they began their push-ups.