Fine, Keep Your Secrets

I was still bouncing, even as I awoke. Unlike with the stairs though, it was more like a gentle rocking. I felt like I was floating or…like I was being carried.

My eyes snapped open. Sure enough, Aggie held me in his arms. He was walking while carrying me, with little effort. One arm was wrapped beneath my legs, the other around my shoulders. My head rested against his shoulder, bouncing off against it every few steps he took.

“Aggie.” I blinked up at him.

He grinned and chuckled. “Good morning, sleeping Mage. Though I guess I was the one who passed out first. Is there some cookware saying ya fancy for that?”

I huffed. “Not everything I say is about cookware.”

But, yeah, I got it. Trying to lay off the idioms. I’m sure whatever language he spoke had its fair share of them, too, but something that got lost in translation. Or at least, maybe I should think of other idioms to use.

“In any case, you can put me down. I can walk on my own.”

Aggie pursed his lips and hummed. “Are ya sure? Ya used a lot of magic up. It’s okay to rest a bit more while ya recover it.”

“I’m positive. Put me down.”

Aggie gave me a playful shrug, but he stopped walking. He set me down gently. I felt a bit guilty that I couldn’t be so gentle with him when I was moving his body. But, in my defense, there was a huge difference in strength. He was also over a foot taller than me.

I stumbled with my first step. He tried to grab me, but I brushed him off. I was a little lightheaded, but all things considered, I didn’t feel as bad as I expected. I readjusted my clothing, reactivating my cloak and boots. Thankfully I could use my magic to keep me looking clean.

“How long was I out? Where are we?”

He set his hands on his hips. “Ya were out for a couple days. We’re somewhere southeast of where we started; I don’t know the specifics about the geography of the human plane.”

“A couple days!?”

“Yah, ya needed yer rest, so didn’t feel right to wake ya. Good thinking on the river, was a perfect escape plan.”

“I thought it would be the quickest way to move us. I didn’t want to keep camping by the dead troll. Sorry, I probably got us really off course.” I fiddled with my hair, twirling it around my finger. I’m sure there was a much better option, but at that time, it was all that I could think of. I wouldn’t say I was a particularly strategic thinker.

“No, Akari.” He reached out his hand and set it on my head. He ruffled my hair. “I’m being serious. Ya did great. I expect nothing less of my apprentice!”

I felt warmth spread through my cheeks. I hadn’t expected an actual compliment. When was the last time someone told me “good job.” I couldn’t even remember. My parents certainly never passed compliments my way. I felt like to them, I was never good enough for them to pay notice. I was never very confident, which only made things worse. But…I always yearned for the affection. I wanted to be recognized, like any human would.

I batted his hand away, my face beat red. “Y-you don’t have to treat me like I’m some pet!”

He laughed. “Nah, I wouldn’t want a pet as rebellious as ya.”

He patted me in the shoulder before moving ahead. “Let’s get going. I got a trail.”

I stuck my tongue out at him behind his back. I didn’t know if that had some different meaning in this world, but it made me feel better. Yes, I could be very childish. He wasn’t any better. But maybe that was why I got along better with him than the villagers. We were probably more alike than I wanted to admit.

I trailed after him, hopping a bit to catch up with him. “Where are we going? You said you got a trail.”

“Yup, felt a twinge when I first woke up. Pretty small one, but I managed to catch onto it. Been following it ever since.” He held a thumb up. I guess it meant the same thing it did in my world, or at least I hope it did.

“It better not be another troll.”

“Nah, don’t think so. It hasn’t moved at all the entire time. I can only catch it every now and then, but it’s been pretty stable. Now that yer up, we can use yer magic to really lock onto it. Let me know when yer ready.”

“I got it.”

I brought up my hand and with it, my magic. Just a small flicker of flames was enough for his misplaced magic to react. The chill found me immediately. It was still a ways off, but we were headed in the right direction. I was amazed that Aggie was able to follow it without being able to sense it the entire time. Magic was so tricky.

With his magic active, he was able to guide us much more efficiently. The travel wasn’t particularly exciting, but I was glad for the chance of pace. A mundane adventure was exactly what we needed after the crazy fight with the troll. I silently pleaded that his magic was staying still because it was attached to something like a ring again.

When his magic would flicker and weaken, I’d bring another flame up and keep the link alive. We chatted about inane things as we walked, from things about types of animals that lived in this world to even different weather patterns. Despite this being some foreign magical world, there wasn’t a lot that was different from my own. Most of the animals were the same, at least for the type we might encounter. There were things like trolls and goblins, but Aggie promised me that we wouldn’t run into them often. I just hoped he wasn’t lying to me.

Aggie didn’t know too much about things like technology and politics, but it sounded like a typical fantasy world with towns and villages. He usually didn’t approach the humans, but he had seen knights before. It made me think that there was probably a castle and a king or queen somewhere ruling this kingdom. That part wasn’t important to me, either, as I was following the Demon Lord. As far as I was concerned, the humans were no real business of mine.

I did inquire about the demon plane, but Aggie didn’t want to talk about it. I tried to press, but he was adamant about changing the topic. I finally gave up and changed the subject. But, speaking of demons…

“Hey, Aggie, I had this really strange dream when I was passed out. I thought it was going to be reliving my death, but instead it became some creepy scene with a psycho bullying a child.” I grimaced as I remembered. That sharp cracking sound still echoed throughout my brain.

“Hah?” Aggie glanced back at me. “Why were ya dreaming about something like that? Some psycho bullying a child? Maybe ya hit yer head one too many times.”

I shot him a glare. “No, it seemed way too real. This freak with long dark hair was tormenting a small child in a cave. Broke his wrist! And then to make it even creepier, that psycho tore his own arm off!”

Aggie fell silent. I couldn’t see his face, but his shoulders stiffened. He balled his hands into fists and I swore I saw blood dripping down as if he dug his sharp nails into his palm. I stepped up towards him. I reached for his arm and caught his sleeve.

“Uh, Aggie?”

He put his hand on mine and gently pushed me off. He met my gaze, that grin plastered back on his face. His body relaxed, but there was still a strange look in his eyes. He knew something about what I saw, but I realized that he would never tell me about it.

“Dang, that sure sounds crazy! Yer dreaming is scary. Probably just ‘cause the overuse of magic. We see all sorts of strange things when we are overexerted.” Aggie laughed it off. It was so obvious he was lying.

I’d let him keep his secret for now. I already had my own theories about what I saw, based on his reaction. I flipped some hair behind my shoulder. “Hmph, fine, whatever. If you say so.”

What made the most sense to me is that I may have glimpsed part of Aggie’s memories. With our magic so close together, especially as he was reaching towards his, I may have inadvertently pulled some of his towards me. The fact that he felt it at all, it was highly probable that my own magic was reacting to something or at least fluctuated enough to trigger the ping. Human and demon magic didn’t mix well, so in that instance, maybe that was the unintended result.

Aggie only briefly mentioned his time before he was summoned to this world. He brushed it off casually, but after the original Demon Lord was killed by the First Mage, the replacement was chosen from a cruel battle royale between his children. In my mind, I initially assumed they would have all been adults, but maybe that wasn’t the case. What if they had thrown actual children into the fight…?

I didn’t want to think about it further. I knew of the cruelty humans could do to one another, but demons were no better. In the end, all sentient beings were the same. They preyed on the weak and abused each other for the sake of power. I hated those who looked down on others. Bullies had no place in this world. The fire within me burned in agreement. It was impossible to take them all out, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t try.

Aggie’s attention was already elsewhere. The ground sloped upward and rose into a tall hill. At the hill’s base, a small grouping of trees stood around it like sentries. At the very top of hill, one tree stood alone. Even from this distance I could tell it was enormous. It rose up high into the sky, its branches reaching towards the clouds and sun.

“That’s a weird place for a tree,” I commented. The tree at the top reminded me of the great Redwoods in California. I wondered if it was as old as them, too.

“Heh heh heh…” Aggie chuckled under his breath. “Indeed. It seems we have another troublesome pest to deal with. Maybe this will be easy though, considering yer magic is based in fire.”

I followed his gaze to the tree at the top then turned back to him. “Wait, you aren’t telling me that tree…”

“Exactly. That tree has the next of my power.”

I felt my jaw drop and my eyes widened. “Wait, a tree can get your magic now, too? What can’t absorb it!?”

“Not just any tree, but a tree that ancient…there is a lot of energy that has built up within it over its lifetime. A tree like that often survives because it grows along a leyline. While I don’t feel any here now, the demon’s own may have crossed beneath this hill in the past. Which makes it even more problematic if true, ‘cause then this bugger is gonna be quite used to my type of magic.”

“So, what does that mean? Sum it up for me in simpler terms.”

He rolled his eyes at me, but at least he gave me an answer. “It can absorb my magic better than those others things we ran into. Like a short-lived animal like a deer is never going to be able to contain it. The ring was man-made, so it was only a temporary hold. As I mentioned before, if we hadn’t gotten it when we did, it would have probably exploded and taken out a good chunk of that town.

“The troll was more suited to it than the others, but it could utilize it in any sense, especially with two parts on it at the same time. If left alone, my magic would have eaten the troll alive, from the inside out. It would have done a ton of damage if it continued on though, so it was better we caught it when we did.”

“So, in short, the tree will be harder to remove the magic from. Is it going to be able to attack us?”

Aggie rubbed his head. “Honestly, no clue. It’s never been in a tree before, at least not like this. But it might be able to. Let’s approach it cautiously, just in case.”

Nothing hindered our way to the bottom of the hill. Crossing the open plain made me feel uneasy, but Aggie walked with a bounce in his step. His confidence kept me calm, though I wasn’t sure where that confidence came from. Following him blindly had worked thus far, might as well continue.

We stopped at the outcropping of trees at the base. Nothing stood out with them, though we still prodded them to make certain. Aggie and I poked them with our magic, but the result was simple scorched bark and small holes. They were just normal trees. That was one less thing to worry about.

Passing through them, I felt Aggie’s energy seeping out from the hill. It wasn’t the same as with the deer though, or even the ring. It was a thin layer, almost as if it was purposely spread over the hill. If anything, it felt more like when Aggie was making a shield or even changing up his wardrobe. It felt very deliberate.

Aggie held his hand out in front of me, motioning for me to stay behind him. He didn’t have to tell me twice. I feel back and let him lead. We moved slowly up the hill. The energy pulsated beneath our feet, but it didn’t make any move to stop us. It sort of was like wading through a low pool of water.

We were nearing the top when the air finally changed. I felt the magic before I saw the ripples appear before my eyes. I was about to call out to Aggie when the ground beneath me shifted. The next instant, I was hanging upside down, dangling in the air.

Just great.