Captured

"Drago, snap out of it! I told you to give me the rock."

Drago had zoned out for a moment thinking of the impending violence. Leo's words had dragged him back to the present.

"Y-yeah," said Drago, giving Leo the rock.

"Listen, Drago. You won't get killed if you stay calm and follow my lead. I'll buy you time and distract the enemy in case we're attacked. You run away then. In case the worst happens and we get captured, act like you don't know me. Give any random reason why you came here, and don't ever mention me. From now on, we don't know each other, got it?"

Drago nodded. The boys stood alert, watching out for movement around them. The night was still, with the earlier noises drowning out. All they could hear was the rustling of leaves in the midnight breeze. Suddenly, a tall bush bordering the bank parted, and a tall, bulky man walked through. Even in the dark, Leo could make out his bald head, dark black rags and bearded face. From his looks, Leo deduced he was probably a bodyguard or henchman of some rich mafia boss in the area.

"Don't move," said Leo. "I'm an arrow spell user. I'll turn you into swiss cheese if you come any closer."

The bodyguard, unfazed, kept walking towards him.

"S-Stay where you are! I'm not fucking kidding here. I'll fucking kill you," Screamed Leo.

"Kill me if you can, kid," said the man in a deep voice. He was now 5 feet away from Leo.

Screaming, Leo charged towards the man while brandishing his rock. The man calmly caught Leo's wrist and dislocated it with one twist. Leo screamed in agony as the rock dropped to the ground.

"Didn't your parents teach you how to talk to adults, bitch?" Said the man as he slammed into Leo's already broken jaw with his fist. At this point Leo lost his energy to scream and went limp. Seeing this, the man sneered in pleasure.

"You lied about being a spell user, didn't you? Didn't you know the Selections take place only when a kid is 17? And you sure don't look 17 to me."

Leo spit out blood through his broken jaw.

"DIDN'T YOU?"

With the last ounce of energy he had, Leo managed a nod.

"Of course you did. Now then, Allow me to show you what real magic is. This is gonna hurt- a lot."

Leo tried to squirm out of the man's grip but his body didn't budge. The man took his palm and placed it on Leo's forehead.

"Shockwave Spell: Initiate."

With a bright flash and loud boom, Leo was thrown into the river, limp as a rag doll. Upon impact he fractured his spinal cord on a rock jutting out of the river, causing him to black out as he sank into the water.

"Now," said the man to himself. "Where's the other one?"

Drago was running as fast as he could through the forest, holding the half burnt body of his father in his hands. The upper body had burnt off, so he was carrying a part of the legs that were still intact. As planned, Leo had distracted the man enough to allow Drago to escape with the body without being noticed. Strangely, Drago had felt a small feeling of satisfaction when he saw Leo getting attacked. Even though he didn't know why, something inside him felt happy to see Leo suffer. He didn't fully understand this feeling yet.

The forest was full of logs thrown all over the ground from the mass deforestation committed by the residents of the Bog, since wood was one of their most important resources. Drago hopped over each log as he ran in a straight line. If he ran for about 6 hours he would reach a small mountain village called Whitewood, where some residents of the Bog migrated to in order to facilitate trading. It would be a suitable place for him to hide from the enemies, since gang activity was prohibited, and like all the kingdoms, there was a spell barrier to prevent any kind of spell usage.

As he ran, Drago suddenly began to feel a feeling of dread, as if something was following him. He stopped running, pausing to look around. The forest was filled with the sounds of trees and wind. But he was sure there was someone there, hiding in the darkness. His gut feeling told him that, and he trusted his gut more than anything else.

He dropped the body on the ground and bent down, picking up a thin, spear shaped log with a conveniently sharpened tip. The darkness felt like an entity, consuming him with it's long, stretchy fingers. It was a horrible sensation, his heart rate increasing as his head started to spin.
He was afraid.

He leaned against a tree to catch his breath, letting his guard down. That was when he felt an arrow pierce into his back, blood spraying out as it lodged into his torso.