Come Back Witch

Lysandra let out a small smile; it just felt right to do. Turning her head to look around, she knew from where they stood along the cliff there wouldn't be an exit close by.

"Either we follow the cliff for roughly a day or..." She stopped herself from continuing; she knew if she told him a faster route, he would take it no matter what. She couldn't risk their lives just to save a little time

But Vince simply shook his head; the signal was clear; he wouldn't waste any time. "What is the fastest route?" His voice was filled with confidence, even Lysandra couldn't simply deny.

Shaking her head in disappointment, she sighed. "Let's return to the tower and get your wounds cleared first; we don't want you to die without ever reaching your goal, right?"

His chuckle could be heard as he started to slowly move with the walking stick. Lysandra followed just a few meters behind, keeping a keen eye on him. Or at least that's what she wanted to do.

A headache was hindering her greatly, she had long since spent every reserve of magic she was allowed to have. The spell she had used earlier to kill the tree monster had only been of the lower tiers. But even then her bodiless form couldn't even handle it.

Without Vinces as a catalyst, she wouldn't even be able to cast the simplest magic in her own domain, the garden. The spell probably cost them a full day of time remaining. She had to be more careful.

She had to use every bit of magic as efficiently as possible, or they would die from wounds or because their time limit had run out.

Vinces continued to lead them towards the great tower, his path much more effective than her own. Even with his immobility he still had a steady pace, as if he had done something similar before.

Lysandra wished she could look inside his mind. What would a human like him be thinking? His whole life had just been turned around and even though he had become of the rising rank, which for some unknown reason made people more comprehensible towards the whole change, he still adapted far too fast.

Her steps slowly became slower; she had exhausted too much power, her left side had already gone numb, she felt sleepy, maybe she should rest for a bit. Vinces can take care of himself and the garden is protected by a barrier, nothing can enter it without her allowance.

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Staring at her body, which slowly started to dissolve, she didn't feel anything, not like her body could feel any normal pain at all. Each time she disappeared, it felt wrong, she knew if she rested a bit, she would be able to manifest herself once again.

But she didn't want to, she was scared, scared of never waking up again, scared of failing and breaking her promise, scared of letting everyone down.

As her leg vanished, her body fell towards the ground without any sound and even though their entire walk back had been silent Vinces seemed to notice her falling behind.

She stared at his worried face just a bit away and whispered quietly. "Don't worry, it's only temporary; I will be back soon." She tried not to cry, but the fear slowly overtook any rational sense of her.

Vinces simply sat down next to her. "I trust you, you will return and save me once more." His smile felt different than before, not true but rather understanding, as if he understood some part of her suffering.

As the rest of her body slowly disintegrated into a white light, she lost her ability to speak and hear. Until nothing remained of her, as before she had become something formless. She watched Vinces slowly stand up, he most likely couldn't see her current form anymore.

Vinces stared at the body of his disappearing companion; he didn't know what to feel. He had only known her for a few hours and even then, their suffering seemed to bind them together even more than any magic ever could.

His walking stick bent under the pressure of him standing up as he continued limping forward. He knew she would return soon, it's probably the same thing as when she disappeared from the mountain or on the street.

But even then he felt alone, but stopping now would be a waste of time. She wouldn't want him to stop. They both had to gather some power back and he had to tend to his wounds. Even with his new power, he felt himself slowly becoming weaker.

Following his tracks back, the tower seemed to be just in reach, his architecture still amazed him. Every floor was made in different time periods, even when art class wasn't his favorite, the connection to history couldn't be denied.

Standing in front of the wooden entrance they had just left, it felt like already a century had passed since then.

As he opened the door, the interior had remained the same. He slowly navigated towards the kitchen area of the room. It was sorted perfectly, not a single grain of dust anywhere or wrongfully placed item.

Searching through the cabinet, he found it. A first aid kit, which seemed to be even older than he was. Opening it, everything inside was to his satisfaction, still in perfect condition.

Slowly lowering himself to the ground, wincing as the cloth pressed against the open wounds, he started to apply the bandages to his legs, which were still bleeding from the holes pierced inside of them. Just after he finished, he started to rise once more with the help of the cabinet.

As he slowly balanced onto his cursed leg, he felt a light sensation in it. It seemed like its power was slowly returning.

Grabbing his walking stick, he drank a bit of the tea the witch had placed there earlier.

He didn't know how much time it would take him to return to the village, but he knew waiting wouldn't make the way any faster.

As he walked towards the exit, his gaze remained on a painting on the wall. It seemed to be made of a cliff, to be exact, the one he came from.

Just that there was no cave, as he continued to stare at it, an idea formed in his mind. The cave might be long enough for an exit to exist on the other side, or how else would the monster have gotten there?

Which meant he found a way out. Passing the door frame into the beauty of the garden once more.

His mind was filled with doubt.

Could he really return to the village on his own?

Without the help or grace of the witch.

Being out there had nearly killed him in just a few minutes.

But even with his mind resisting, he took another step forward.