Chapter 15: Inevitable Situation

The silent forest was interrupted as Dino gallops and jumps on its dark grass, causing the wagon to drop at the ground every time. I turned to look behind at the giant boar that have been chasing us for a long time, not showing any hint of exhaustion.

Our horse might be faster than the fat enormous hog, but I'm sure anytime soon, it might take over us. Steams started to smoke out from his snout. The night will completely take over the whole sky, and our situation will get more dangerous than this.

I was chased by the Deravon soldiers, and now, even this pig will gonna kill me as well.

I don't even know if I can survive in this world, this world that despised me every time I looked. Is there any way to stop this?

Despite the wobbling wagon, Dalary crawled towards the end, facing the boar. She closed her eyes, trying to focus. I didn't have a choice but to watch her. After a short while, she cussed and her eyes were now filled with frustration.

"I can't talk to it!" She yelled, irritated by the fact that her ability wasn't strong enough. This made me more anxious about our situation.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her down, and closed her eyes once more.

After a good amount of time waiting, I can finally see the result. Crows coming from the top started to descend towards the giant, poking its body. The boar still determined to chase us but was disturbed by the birds, causing him to unable to see its target.

"I'll attack," Cainne said as he pulled the shortsword he had been carrying since the time I saw him in Atonis. It wasn't that magnificent to watch it, but I can feel something that's surrounding its blade.

"Great. You can actually use magic." Dalary commented sarcastically, putting an insincere smile at him, frustrated.

The encantor didn't let it bother him and just jumped out of the wagon, preparing his sword on his hand, ready to give a blow to the hog. As he jumped in the air, he raised his sword and pointed the sharp edge of the blade towards the enemy. The blade glowed, as bright as the moon that was rising on the east.

But then, suddenly, the glowing light was no more, giving the sword less power than before. The feeling that I've been sensing earlier was also gone.

"What the…?" He muttered, stared at his sword. Because of the distraction, the boar took this as an opportunity. It raised his trunks and struck him with it which sent him flying towards our direction.

"Cainne!" I shouted, standing up in the moving vehicle, trying to catch his flying body.

He was about to land on the ground beside me, missing the wagon, but my hand grabbed a part of his clothes, pulling him up. I sighed in relief, glad that I made it. He groaned out of pain.

"What happened?" I asked him.

"Something… stopped my magic." He answered, rubbing his torso to ease the pain.

"What?!" I exclaimed, couldn't believe what I just heard. I started to think about any possible things that could be able to turn off magic. If I'm correct, there are no species that could be able to deactivate an attack made out of magic. Unless…

"You're useless!" Dalary insulted with greeted teeth and glaring eyes at the lying Cainne, scratching her forehead out of stress. Then, she turned to look at me. "Meria, it's your turn."

"Huh?"

I went back to reality as I heard my friend called out my name. I was too focused on thinking about the strange occurrence that I couldn't be able to focus on the present. I lost on my thoughts. What is she talking about?

"Use your magic!" She spitted. Then, her eyes as she covered her mouth with her hands, realizing that she messed up with her words. I can hear her gulped inside the branches.

"Magic?" I heard the encantor spoke. I turned around to see him, now raising an eyebrow at Dalary. Then, he turned around to look at me with the same expression. "Wait, you can use magic?"

"Uhh…" My friend was lost in words.

"Fine. I'll do it!"

I stood up from sitting. I closed my eyes, tried to control my breathing into a minimum, and focused my mind to activate the magic that was inside me. Even at this time, I still didn't know how to use it. It's just get released at random times, but unknowingly, it showed up when I just needed it. So maybe if I wished for it to come out, maybe it will show up.

I thought of so many things. I wished for so many things. I wished for my brother to be here, to guide and be with me. I wished for my friends' safety. I wished for my magic to never exist in the first place, although I assume that's not a very good one if I wish for it to release. But then… I couldn't feel the pain that I felt before. After a while of concentration, there's no sign of magic flowing through my body.

"I-It's not working…" I said, lifting my hands, staring at it for a long time. I couldn't believe that I failed right now. Not just Cainne, but my magic had also deactivated. There must be something that refused to release our magic from ourselves.

Dino started to slow down because of exhaustion, letting the boar jump toward us with its full body, ready to crush our wagon with its weight. Everything went into slow motion as we stared at the giant hog above us, enveloping our sight of the purple sky.

"We're screwed!" Dalary shouted.

"Ahh!"

We shouted, accepting our fate and the end of our journey right now. My life started flashing before my eyes, reminiscing about the good times I did when I was alive. Ever since I was a kid, ever since that accident, I swore to not go into trouble again. I swore but… here I am, running away from a kingdom and their deadly army, and ended up getting killed by a giant boar. I closed my eyes, a tear fell from it, remembering my brother that was caught by the Deravon.

I'm sorry, Farin.

As I was about to lose hope, accepting my death even though I didn't want to, I felt something dropped on my lap with a light thud. I slowly opened my eyes from the fear and found a small black boar lying on my dress. Its small trunk caught the thin cloth of my apron, but successfully removed it.

I, as well as my friends, stared at the little creature of black, shocked at what we are seeing now. I assumed this was the giant pig that had been chasing after us all this time. And now…

"It… shrank," Cainne said.

"It looks so cute," Dalary uttered as I couldn't help but notice her rosy cheeks and sly smirk sticking on her face. Her eyes were stuck on the adorable animal that had been stuck on my lap.

I continued to take glances at it, not about its cuteness, but the familiarity surrounding it. It felt like I've seen something like this from the past. I must have caught a photo in one of the books. My eyes narrowed into slits, trying to identify the boar until a bulb in my brain lit up.

"Wait!" I exclaimed with widened eyes. "I've read about this before."

They turned around to look at me, curious about what I was gonna say about the new encounter.

"It's called Valora Boars," I explained. "They're small boars that can grow bigger during the night. So they used this time to hunt for food."

"Then…" Cainne spoke, in which I turned around to see him. "…why did it shrink all of a sudden? Does it have limits?"

"I'm not sure, but there might be something around here that's stopping not just this animal's magic, but also our magic," I answered, which intrigued him. "And if there's someone that could stop magic, then that would be–"

As I was about to finish my statement, we heard a loud crack coming from a nearby distance in the middle of the silent woods. Dalary ordered Dino to stop marching. I took glances in both of my sides and back, trying to catch a glimpse of something suspicious in my eyes. My heart started beating out of anxiety, didn't know what will be coming out for us this time. Great, after the boar, now this will threaten us.

Another noise came from nowhere, turning our heads immediately into the only direction on the left side of our wagon. The surrounding was filled with berry bushes wrapped into one large single tree.

"Someone's there," Cainne said.

Sweats started to drip from my forehead despite the cold mist surrounding the forest. I gulped, didn't have the courage to check on what was behind that direction.

"I'll go check it."