Rings of Magic

They ran until they collapsed with exhaustion. Even if the Cyrhil were defeated, which Samuel thought likely, since the human soldiers were the attackers, they had decided it was better for them to be far away when the dust settled. The clang of metal had long since died down in the distance.

“I think we’re safe for now,” Madoc said between rasping breaths. Samuel was on the edge of throwing up and heaved while resting on his hand and knees. Even in this, he had to take care to position his hand closer to his centre too keep from tipping over.

“I hope so,” Samuel said. He wasn’t so positive, since he still had the vivid picture of the beasts that had attacked him on his arrival in the wasteland. After his breathing calmed down, he began rummaging through his pockets. With the clarity of mind that the long run caused, he felt queasy about the two fingers inside.

“What is it?” Madoc asked. Samuel pulled out the two fingers and opened his palm. “Ugh. Why?” Madoc watched with a nauseated look before noticing. “Could it be?” He came closer. Samuel had to fight the instinct to pull his hand away. The amulet would stay tucked away in his pocket. At least for now.

“It’s from our boss,” Samuel said with a smile.

“Good. I almost thought you were losing your mind back there. I’m glad it was something that makes sense.”

Samuel scowled at him. “Help me get these off.” He held the ring and pointed the finger towards Madoc. They pulled until at last the ring came free. It was a crude piece of work with a rough and uneven surface and the colour of aged iron. “Great, let’s do the other one.”

The second finger was fatter and the ring was stuck tight. Samuel sighed and looked at his axe. He only noticed at that point. “Hey, where’s your weapon?”

“I dropped it during the battle,” Madoc said. “I managed to get my hand on this though.” He produced a short dagger and flipped it in the air before catching it.

“Perfect, you can cut it out.”

He handed Madoc the finger. He held on for just a little as Madoc tried to take it before letting go. Madoc didn’t seem bothered by the severed digit. He carved out the ring with a happy grimace on his face. After he was done he held the bloody thing towards the sky and gazed through it.

“How do we do this?” Samuel asked as he played with the ring. “Just put them on.” He had to fight to hold his excitement back.

Madoc’s expression fell a little. “Honestly I’m not so sure about this.”

“What do you mean? You said anyone could do it.”

“I know. It’s just that these were made by the Cyrhil.” He sighed. “I’m not sure. I think we should be careful with these.”

“Right,” Samuel said without real conviction and decided to change the subject. “What’s the plan from now on?”

“We have to leave this accursed land as fast as possible. That much is obvious. I think our best bet is the Kingdom of Bryntir. It’s a fairly wealthy place so it should be easy enough to find some work and get back to our feet so to speak. After that, who knows. Of course first we have to survive the way out of here. We can think about the rest later.”

They moved on at a walking pace as going any faster would just tire them out too fast and make the journey even longer and potentially more dangerous. Samuel felt his stomach begin to complain and somehow his thoughts returned to the severed fingers he had carried with him. He shook his head. I’m not that hungry. Yet.

A low growl caught his attention and Madoc signalled to stop while drawing his dagger. Samuel adjusted his grip on the axe. Sweat began pouring down his face and the axe handle felt slippery in his hand.

“Stay close,” Madoc whispered and began moving forward, while Samuel watched their backs. A canine beast appeared on the top of a hill, running along the ridge. It looked similar to the ones Samuel had fought together with Jarek. His final battle. A whole pack of the beasts appeared as they ran along the opposite hill.

Madoc roared as the first wolf attacked. He slashed across its snout and it squealed with pain. Samuel was panting as another was closing in on him, followed by the pack of three more. He was frozen with terror. The axe slipped from his grip and landed on the ground with a light thud. The beast was baring its long fangs and drool flew from its maw. Without even realising it, Samuel stuck his hand in his pocket and found the iron ring. He brought his hand before him in a defensive gesture. At the same time Madoc noticed his state and charged in with his dagger. The beast was flying towards Samuel and was almost within hand’s reach when a loud crack sounded. Samuel was thrown back into Madoc and they crashed to the ground together.

Samuel groaned with pain. Where he stood just a second ago was a wedge-shaped scorch mark along the ground extending out several metres. Of the beasts that had attacked him little remained. A couple of charred pieces were scattered around, one of the furry ones being on fire. One of the beasts was still alive and yowling in pain. It was missing one of the back paws. The creatures that were attacking from the other side whimpered and ran away.

“The ring,” Madoc said before a coughing fit interrupted him. “You used it.”

“I didn’t have much of a choice,” Samuel said in a somewhat biting way.

“I know. I don’t blame you,” Madoc sighed. “What does it feel like?”

“I feel a bit dizzy, in pain and tired. Though I’m sure I’d have felt some of that even if I hadn’t used the ring.” What Samuel wasn’t prepared to share was also the exhilarating feeling of euphoria over the power he had just wielded. It was hard to comprehend he was the cause of it yet he knew it to be the case.

“I see.” Madoc looked thoughtful for a moment. “Oh well, let’s go for it then.”

Before Samuel could respond, Madoc already had the ring in his hands and put it on. I guess he wasn’t so opposed to it after all. It was a sour thought. At least I still have the necklace.

“Are you hungry yet?” Madoc asked.

“Of course. We’ve been at it for hours. Why?” He had a sinking feeling.

Madoc grimaced and pointed at the dying canine. “Fresh meat.”

“Yes,” Samuel said in a resigned tone. It’s not any worse than the random vermin we ate during the march.

“Don’t look so gloomy. We have a new tool on our side.” He showed off his ring. “But first, would you do the honours?” He pointed to Samuel’s axe that still laid on the ground. “You have more reach.”

Samuel frowned but picked up his weapon and got up. His vision went dark and he lost his balance for a second. He leaned on his axe until his vision returned. Only then he noticed that the grip of the axe wasn’t just slick due to his sweat but also a bit of blood. I managed to cut myself on a sharp edge of the ring. Great job Sam. I wonder if the tetanus shot still counts in this world. The thought almost made him burst out laughing as he looked at the stump of his right arm.

“What’s wrong?” Madoc asked.

“It’s nothing. I must’ve been more tired and hungry than I thought. I got to my feet too fast.”

“I see.” Madoc didn’t sound completely convinced.

Samuel continued to the future meal. It was trying to drag itself along the ground using its remaining limbs without much success. A small dark puddle of blood had gathered beneath it. A single strike silenced the poor animal. Madoc dragged it on a large flat rock.

“Right, let’s do this.” He extended his arm towards the carcass. “Hah,” he exclaimed and nothing happened. He waved his arm towards it and began using all kinds of different gestures. After a while he began getting frustrated. “How did you do this?”

“I don’t really know?” Samuel said. “It just kind of happened. Maybe because I was in danger?”

“I suppose that makes sense. Maybe you should try it. Do you feel up to it?”

“Of course,” Samuel said with a smile. He had no idea how to use his new powers but itched at the chance to do so. He held his hand over the dead body and felt for the power coming from the ring.

The cadaver exploded and splashed both of them in blood and gore. It threw Samuel to his back and he began having second thoughts about using the power. As he got back up, he saw that the corpse was obliterated and even the rock beneath was crushed into many pieces.

“Could you try to be a little less violent,” Madoc said while wiping his face he didn’t hide his dissatisfaction and it made Samuel wonder whether that was just because of the result or also because he hadn’t been able to do the same. Madoc hissed as he felt for a gash left by a flying fragment of bone or stone. “You can’t just destroy everything,” he said and swung his hand down. Along with that came a blast of wind that sent the fragments of rock flying in the other direction. Madoc stared with mouth agape. “I did it,” he whispered to himself. His face took on the biggest grimace yet and he slapped Samuel on the shoulder. “I don’t get it. I could feel the pull from the ring before but couldn’t touch it. Now it feels like it’s become part of me.”

The blood. Samuel shook the thought away. “Good. How do we control it?”

“I guess we just need to try it out. Maybe try to moderate whatever you did while casting. Let’s collect some more food first.” He pointed at the scattered remains of several of the beasts. None were in a condition as good as the first one but at that point Samuel would eat just about anything.

After several attempts he had stopped using the viable meat as a target for his practice. At this rate there will be nothing left to eat. Each blast of magic left him even more exhausted, dizzy and even his head began hurting. He looked at Madoc who didn’t seem to fare much better.

“You look a bit pale,” Samuel commented.

“You look like shit too.” He had to seat down and pant as he spoke.

“There’s no need to be rude.” He also felt himself growing short. If we don’t figure out something we won’t be able to carry on.

Samuel grasped for every strand of temperance and serenity that his mind was capable of. With a slow and deliberate gesture he opened his hand. A small flame flickered in his palm. There was a need within him to feed it and let it grow wild and he fought hard to restrain it and himself. It would be much to easy to feed the entirety of his remaining strength to the fire. After the flame was stable, he allowed it to pulsate in intensity. Even the small amount of magic was draining, especially with how tired he already was, but nowhere near to what the initial explosions of power took out of him.

“That’s it,” Madoc gasped. “How did you do it?”

They spent several hours experimenting with their new powers. By the end of the day they were exhausted and ate the partially raw and partially burned pieces of the monster meat. Samuel stared up at the dark sky filled with an unexpected hope. Even if I can no longer fight, wielding this magic means I will never be weak again. The next person to wrong me will wish he had never been born. It was a giddy feeling. He ached and was tired but it was more akin to a feeling after a very productive day.

The passage through the wasteland began to look a lot safer. Still, I can’ let my guard down. He knew only too well that the canine beasts were at the bottom of things that threatened him. The insectoid creature that took his hand was in a league of its own. Not to mention the Cyrhil. What they wielded among the two of them was a fraction of the power of a single one of their magic users. He felt for the amulet still hidden in his pocket. It was a chilling thought. Maybe he was one of the stronger ones. Then again he didn’t stand out during the battle. The human wizards bested them in terms of power. Was it just their sheer number or is the difference in power that great? That brought a thought to his mind.

“Hey Madoc!”

“Mhm,” he responded with a sleepy voice.

“You said people in general can use magic, right?”

“Yep.”

“Is there any place where they train people?”

“Heh. Way ahead of you. I told you we’re going to the Kingdom of Bryntir.”

“Yes. And?”

“Well in the kingdom, there is a city called Tanwyth, which is also known as the Academy City. That would be one of the largest magical academies in all the kingdoms. I was already thinking about it earlier but now with this power, I think we could go right in,” he said and turned his hand in front of his face, allowing a small glowing orb to appear in his hand as he admired the ring. “What do you say?”

“That sounds just perfect.”

The following days it was a challenge not to give into the temptation to use magic all the time as they journeyed towards the edge of the waste. Overusing magic would impede their progress as even as they managed to learn to limit the power of their spells, each small use would still drain their energy.

That being said, the magic proved useful in a myriad of ways. Not just in combat but in ordinary survival as well. From boiling water and cooking to speeding up building shelters by moving or breaking rocks and even traversing the environment.

“We could go around it,” Madoc said. He stared down the fault. It was one of the largest they had seen so far. It looked as if the world was being torn asunder. There was no way they could climb down and then back up the other side.

Samuel looked in both directions but there seemed to be no end to the formation as it disappeared into the distant mountains. “Which direction is the kingdom supposed to be?”

Madoc pointed straight ahead with a defeated look on his face.

“We can’t afford such a detour. We were lucky so far that we only had to face weak beasts. You probably know better than me what kind of horrors still lurk out there. Besides, we can practice in a safe way.”

After a while they were able to figure out how to send the other person flying with a blast of energy and even how to enhance their own jumping ability.

“How do we get the other person across?” Madoc asked. It took the combined power of both of them to clear the width of the fault.

“I think I have an idea,” Samuel said.

With their combined powers they sent Madoc flying across the gap and he landed on the other side with a roll. Samuel was thrown in the opposite direction and was rolled on the ground in a much less graceful fashion until he skidded to a stop. He got up with a groan and several painful spots that would become fresh new bruises.

“Are you sure you want to do this? We could still try something else,” Madoc shouted.

“Just do it,” Samuel replied. He was confident before but was starting to feel fear creep up his back.

Madoc stood in front of a boulder and stretched his arms and neck. The rock began shifting and then shaking. Slowly it rose from the ground and began levitating towards the fissure. Samuel bolted towards the edge and blasted himself across. As they had figured out earlier, the distance they could safely cover with a boosted jump was about two thirds of the way across. Samuel was flying towards the rock which vibrated in the air. He stopped breathing as he almost missed it. He prepared another blast of energy. Upon his landing the rock swayed which made him lose his balance. He unleashed the power and shot back into the air while also pushing the rock down. This second push was much weaker than the first and since he also jumped slightly to the side as he had tried to catch his balance, he realised with horror, that he would not make the jump. He extended his hand towards the edge of the cliff. He was able to grab on but with only a single hand to work with, it was not enough and his grip slipped.

Madoc grunted with effort as he gripped Samuel’s hand with both of his. Samuel stared with amazement. “Help me you fool,” Madoc hissed.

Samuel managed to find purchase with his legs and take some of his weight from Madoc. After he was pulled up part way he was able to also hook his stump over the edge and finally climb over. They both collapsed to the ground and wheezed for breath. Their eyes met and they both began chuckling.