The Forgotten Prophecy

Chapter 35

Ines was hastily walking through the snow-lit forest. The night before had been rough, and while sleep had spread over the city, the snow quietly fell, painting the world with white. In the sleek midwinter, the sunlight brought a brightness to her surroundings, and Ines, loving winter as she did, yearned to admire the beautiful landscape. She had not time for delaying, though.

'I don't have much time left. Come on!' she whispered to herself, as she anxiously searched for clues on the ground.

The old elf had given her explicit instructions; it would be impossible for her to find them if she didn't reach out to her powers. She wasn't sure how that would help her, so she had chosen to use the tracking skills she had already mastered instead. So far her efforts had been fruitless; no footprints, no signs of their presence. Ines was beginning to worry about the time.

After a few minutes' futile search, she eventually realised that she was running late, and that she had to at least try to use her powers if she wanted to survive that mission. She stood still and closed her eyes, breathing in the crispy air of the woods to calm herself and harness the flow of her powers. She wasn't sure what she was doing, but she trusted her gut and let it come to her naturally.

A few seconds passed, and slowly she began to feel a tingle in her fingers, a small tug in her mind, and without knowing it her legs moved on their own. She didn't know where she was heading to, the only thing that guided was a tiny light glowing through the trees like a trail of magic left behind wherever the old elf had cast a spell.

Ines followed the trail, and soon enough she reached a well-hidden opening through some rocks that led to a small passage between bushes and trees. The first thing she noticed there was the old elf standing with his back at the opening.

'You are out of time,' the old elf said in a dry tone, and turned around to look at her. 'You have failed. Too bad the magic inside him can no longer be removed.'

'What?' she yelled, her eyes going round, her heart racing in panic.

She didn't want to believe him; it was too painful for her. She immediately ran towards Matthew who was sitting by a rock a few meters away from him and he was staring blankly straight ahead. Ines knelt beside him, her brows furrowed from worry, and gently touched his face, trying to deny that her delay was the cause of his unconscious state.

She couldn't control her feelings as she looked at those dead eyes that didn't return her gaze, in her body raved a thunderstorm so great, it broke down and scattered her soul away. Her emotions rallied her powers and roused the familiar sense of energy in her body, her eyes brightening up.

'Is that all you can do?' the elf shouted behind her. 'Create a blast? Focus your mind!'

Ines mastered all her strength to keep her powers at bay; she didn't know how they would affect him, and she didn't want to make his state worse. She only wished to rid him of that awful spell. As if on cue her arms started burning up. Ines felt like they were on fire and when she couldn't take it any longer, she quickly removed them and immediately felt better.

'The results are promising,' said the old elf.

He stood over Matthew and with a snap of his fingers he obviously broke the spell, because seconds after Matthew shook his head, blinking rapidly, and seemed to regain consciousness. Ines thanked the heavens for bringing him back to her.

'Uhmm...what did I miss?' he asked them groggily.

'A possible death!' she exclaimed in anger.

'What?'

'Nonsense!' the elf dismissed her outburst with a wave of his hand. 'I could simply remove the spell from the start, but I wanted to test you. That seemed to do the trick.'