Come Back Witch

The colorful way was just as beautiful as before, but he couldn't bring himself to enjoy it. He had to focus. The cave should lead outside of the garden, but he didn't know how far it would be to the village from there.

Stomping on another stunningly beautiful flower, he slowly destroyed the perfection of this place with every step.

He had to find some kind of weapon or else the overuse of magic might kill him. He also couldn't depend on the witch's help after he had left her garden.

The stick he was holding was way too weak to deal any lethal damage towards anyone. Maybe he could scavenge some of the remains of the wooden creature for anything useful.

Every second he could slowly feel sensation return towards his broken leg. It had barely been an hour since it got destroyed; the restoration was actually faster than he had expected. And even the witch told him it would take a few hours. In probably another hour he would be able to walk pretty normal once again.

As the gigantic cliffside slowly grew as he got closer, his nervousness rose. He felt unprepared, lost in thought, though he nearly stumbled over the carcass of the tree monster. It still looked exactly the same as it did alive.

Except for the giant hole piercing his chest and the withered flowers over its whole body. He closed his eyes, focusing completely on his sixth sense. The dark light flowing out of its body had completely disappeared.

Slowly he started to understand the function of his new ability. It seemed to be some kind of power to see somebody's life force or maybe even magic. That's why the much more powerful witch had a more potent one than this monster.

Opening his eyes again, he tried to use it while having vision too, but it just wasn't stable. He caught himself closing his eyes when trying to concentrate on it too much, or he wasn't able to perceive anything when he wasn't trying enough.

After a few moments he gave up, it was of no use to train at such a place or time. Instead, he started to inspect the carcass for anything he could use, but except for wood, there wasn't anything useful.

He could maybe try to exchange his wooden stick for one of its body parts, but the burns and the giant hole made nothing really viable.

Slowly he started walking away from the monster, leaving it behind to slowly become part of the garden as he stood in front of the cave entrance.

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He felt like he should be scared and maybe he was a little bit. But he wouldn't waver, this was the only way if he wanted to survive and if he had to break every bone in his body, he would still be the one standing at the end.

Walking into its dark embrace, with each step the sunlight reached him less and less. Until he stood in entire darkness.

He had no ability to navigate inside of the cave, his pace slowly died down to each step being taken carefully. He feared walking into something, or maybe he was just about to run down a cliff. His walking stick seemed to prove his worth as he started using it like a guide cane.

The dripping of water was the only sound with his echoing footsteps. Which only made him feel more uneasy; just a few meters inside and he could feel the temperature dropping.

Only slowly making progress, he began to feel bored. His thoughts slowly drifted back towards his new sense, maybe if he were able to imbue his surroundings with his own magical power, he could navigate even in complete darkness.

But first, he would have to find out how to even achieve something like that. He could ask Lysandra when she returned or maybe she could even teach him some kind of tricks to avoid harsh punishment for weak magic.

His excitement slowly rose until his stick struck against something. Expecting just another dripstone pillar, he reached out, trying to touch it. It was similar, but something was off. The form was too perfect, it seemed much more like a perfect pillar than something formed by nature.

Taking a cautious step back, his attention fully returned to his surroundings. Concentrating on his sixth sense, he couldn't feel anything around him.

Fear crept into his body; he didn't know what to do next. Maybe it was just a coincidence for the dripstone pillar to be this form. But something told him he should be careful of what was standing in front of him.

Swallowing, he raised his open hand. Speaking a prayer towards the world, the exact same as the first he had ever cast. The faint memory of their handshake slowly disappeared. As a small light started rising from his hands. To his amazement, it wasn't burning him this time.

He felt fatigue slowly creeping up his body, it felt like he used every ounce of energy he had left to create a single light.

Maybe he was improving... or maybe the world's price simply wasn't fixed. Either way, he accepted the small mercy. Lysandra would probably explain it once she returned..

As he moved the light closer, it illuminated a wooden shaft driven deep into the ground.; slowly going up the stick, he saw runes carved into it. After inspecting them for just a moment, he stretched his arm above his head, trying to see the rest of the stick.

But what he saw instantly let him jump back, clearing all his fatigue. It was not a stick; it was a spear and on top of its spearhead was a skull. A human skull, staring right at him.

The terror hit his body like a wave, freezing him. He could only stare at the poor soul that had been beheaded and presented like this.

He wanted the small light to disappear, to forget what he ever saw in here, but he couldn't.

Slowly his rational part started to settle again, allowing him to think. This person had been dead for some time, with only its skull to be remaining, the rest of the body also didn't seem to be close by.

But one more thing caught his attention: the skull was broken in multiple places, as if it had been in a fight before his death.

As he moved slowly closer, it honestly reminded him of the impalings of Vlad the Impaler, not exactly the same way of impalement but rather the function. As if it were made to be a sign towards anyone that sees it.

He wanted to walk past it but couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead, he grabbed the spear with both his hands, pulling it out of the ground, slowly lifting the head from the top. He let out a sigh.

Even if he didn't know this human.

They didn't deserve to end up in here like this.

When he left this cave, he would find a place for him to rest in peace.

Slowly taking a shaky step forward, he continued his way.