Chase

I refused to stop for anything. Steph was in danger, and I was going to rescue her.

Surely this was what I had been summoned here for? To become a hero?

The shadows of the past that I still watched with my left eye accelerated to keep pace with me, sometimes becoming disjointed, like skipping ahead a few seconds in a video.

My first solid clue that I was on the right track took the form of a forsaken camp site. They had left two hours and fifty-four minutes before I had arrived. This is probably where they slept for the night.

I refocused my vision of the past on that time, when they were leaving.

The illusion of the cloaked man stood up, as though telling the goblins it was time to leave. He still hadn't removed his hood, or maybe he had, and had put it back on before my vision resumed.

The goblins formed packs and grabbed their captives roughly. I kept tally of the offenses against my friends and the others. Those fiends would taste every ounce of wrath they deserved.

I followed the shadows for perhaps another several hours. My surroundings changed from plain to forest.

They took multiple breaks. During one of them, as I was about to skip to the time they left, I paused. Stephasha was doing something with her hands behind her back. There was another woman right next to her, watching the goblins nervously. Steph seemed to say something, and the other scooted behind Steph, bringing her hands in front of her to undo Steph's ropes.

I had to watch to see if this escape attempt worked. Irrationally, I was cheering Steph and the others on. I even peeked nervously at the goblins and their cloaked leader. They seemed to be carelessly paying no mind as they were eating, napping, or otherwise relaxing.

Then, suddenly, all of the captives' attention snapped towards the camp.

I turned to see a goblin shambling over to them, half-drunk. Its scrawny arms and bony hands reaching eagerly.

I looked back to see the untied women hiding their hands behind their backs. The goblin passed through me, reaching for the woman that Steph had untied. It was not going to be a pretty picture. But I was as silent to them as they were to me.

She kicked the goblin between the legs as it got within reach of her.

It collapsed, mouth open in a howl of agony. A quick glance confirmed that the rest of the camp's attention was on the captives now.

The woman who kicked it seemed satisfied, but that expression didn't last long. The goblin grabbed her by her tied ankles, and pulled her towards the main camp.

As she dragged, her arms came up.

Steph tore off her gag, and shouted something. Silver points of light coalesced around her, then slammed into the fiend.

It collapsed lifeless. The woman it was dragging pulled down her own gag, and began speaking a phrase, but she froze. I stepped to the side to see the whole field. The cloaked stranger seemed to be holding her with a spell of sorts. It also stopped Steph in her tracks.

Several sober goblins ran up to the frozen women, as though on order. They retied the two who had gotten free, including gags, and added another rope, rendering the two entirely immobile.

I saw enough. I blinked the time towards when they left camp, hefting the captives.

After some time, their path diverged from a forest trail. They had been here only minutes ago. I was almost caught up. Along with that, I was beginning to feel drained.

I suspected that there was an energy cost that came with magic and my supernatural abilities. That would explain why I crashed after my flame spell last night.

I followed the shadow goblins a short way, quickly encountering a cave. I watched the phantom fiends carry their prisoners into the cave a group at a time.

Suddenly, my entire vision blinked white. My head throbbed. I stumbled next to the cave entrance and slid to the ground and dismissed the vision of the past.

I closed my eyes and breathed slowly, feeling the pressure to my head lessen. I was in no condition to go in swinging, especially not a magic weapon.

With a silent prayer for protection to the gods of this world, I rested.