Dakijen

Pax hurried through the village like her skirt was on fire. It might as well have been with the speed at which she moved.

She stopped at a hut. The only hut left in the village. Frenvir still had refused the offer from the village chief to build a normal mud house.

She glanced about her and walked inside uninvited as it was a normal occurrence when she was sure that Wara was not at home. "Frenvir?" she called, sitting herself on a stray stool.

Pax frowned. Frenvir may be messy but Wara was not. Not in in the slightest. Something seemed out of place. And the fact that she had not heard a single peep from inside the hut seemed wrong.

"Frenvir?" she called again, a bit worried as she rose to her feet. Frenvir never left his hut open for all if he stepped out. Did he perhaps run with Wara and the child?

'No.' she thought to herself. 'Frenvir is not as irresponsible as that!'

"FRENVIR!" she called again and a tired 'yes' answered her from outside the house. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head.

"Frenvir we need to leave now! Where is the child? Where is wa..." She stopped short seeing the tired expression on Frenvir's face.

"She already left." Pax sighed. "Did she take the child with her?" after receiving no reply from Frenvir, she silently answered her own question.

"what is the urgency Pax?" Frenvir asked quietly. He had no idea who could be listening in. He had seen Wara eavesdrop on people with magic before and now that magic was free but with a cost, he had no idea who could be using it and who they were sacrificing.

Pax remembered why she had come and quickly straightened herself.

"we need to leave now! They are coming!" she whispered loudly. Frenvir was confused. "I thought only her and the child had to leave. What does any of that have to do with us?"

Pax sighed. "You remember we came here with her when Zola was only an infant. About six years ago? The one who seeks her now knows she left from somewhere around six years ago. They have gone to the Dakijen to inquire."

Frenvir slumped in defeat. He knew what that meant. Whoever was searching for Wara would know where to go next since the only other village and race that would be insane or ignorant enough to live near Dakij were the Asimati.

The exact reason why they chose the village was because they knew the Asimati were an abandoned and forgotten race. Whoever placed their village near Dakij knew what they were doing.

"They should be on their way by now. That is why we need to leave now Frenvir."

Frenvir went into his hut and grabbed a few necessities along with his pouch belt that was filled with herbs and concoctions.

He stared at a few other things and then went back outside. Grabbing a few weeds Wara had refused to get rid of, he muttered a spell to place his belongings in the dimensional space Wara had accidentally created.

The plants shriveled up and turned into black dust, disappearing as quickly as the spell had been muttered.

"We do not have enough time for this Frenvir! We must leave. Now! "

The ground trembled slightly and the two quickly turned and ran. The Dakijen were near.

Frenvir ran as he pulled his cloak over his head. The situation must have been urgent if the Dakijen would reveal themselves to the Asimati villagers without concern.

The trembling got worse as villagers scrambled back to their houses. Pax brought out a creature resembling a rat and screamed out "nkark tajmah feroih apaa!"

The road ahead of them split into two and the forest farther ahead became foggy. The ground groaned as its directions were being rearranged.

The creature shriveled into dust and since the spell was a big one, Pax's arm began to disintegrate. She fell immediately as the shock of the pain startled her. Frenvir stopped to help her but she stopped him.

"Go! Keep going right!" she yelled as the trembling of the ground and the groaning became louder. Suddenly, Pax placed her arm on the ground and the infection spread from her arm to the little grass that was on the ground, clearing the infection from her own hand.

She looked up at Frenvir, her eyes now swallowed with a lightning storm of grey. "GO!" she growled and screamed, the ground trembling so much it forced Frenvir to run.

Pax shook as blood trickled down from her nose and ears. Her hands shaking as the infection spread up to a mile's radius. She smiled as she felt a Dakijen step on it warily and as he disintegrates immediately, the bleeding stopped and her smile widened.

"Now you will give me strength" she muttered darkly.

***

Frenvir ran, taking another right again. He could have sworn he had just seen the stream in his peripheral. He had no time to stop and check. The Dakijen had found him.

He wondered where Wara had run to, if she was safe, if she had not yet been caught, where exactly she passed through.

The trees looked the same and Frenvir was sure he was running in circles until the fog got thicker and he paused. He was running in circles.

With trembling hands, he reached into his pouch belt and then his blood froze. It was way too quiet.

Frenvir began to mutter a spell but he did not make it halfway as black spots clouded his vision and his body slumped.