Convergent Realms

VIII

Edwin felt the warm embrace of the man quite strongly, as he was being gripped extremely tightly. It was either that or he was left for dead, so he couldn't complain. Edwin had attempted to rest his eyes, knowing that he couldn't do anything to change the situation they were in, but the barrage of projectiles that flew past him every second interrupted his peace. They seemed to be an assortment of fighters, as all kinds of magic was flung at them as well as arrows, and even a throwing spear at one point.

The Orves had caught up with them soon after they thought that they had successfully lost them. Now they ran through the forest, just as they had a half hour ago, but now the man seemed to be getting tired. His footsteps slowed, his breath was irregular, and the warmth that Ediwn was comforted by was growing colder by the second.

Now it was Edwin's turn to do something. He knew there wasn't much he could manage, but maybe a weak spell? All it took was the strength of the mind, so his physical form would not be a problem. He'd learned some parlor tricks for more complicated spells throughout his life, but what would really help them?

A rejuvenation spell. That's what would help them. So Edwin tried his best to clear his mind, close his eyes, and think of what he wanted. It took incredible mental strength to cast any decent spell, but thankfully he was a member of the race that was second best at magic, Maybe the man was a human since he hadn't tried any magic yet.

All he saw in the inside of his eyelids was black, to be expected. He focused his mind in one place until the air around him began to warm up. His skin got prickles all around it, and he heard a noise of confusion from the man. His concentration slipped, and the warmth was more faint, but then he came back even stronger, and he could feel his body healing at a rapid pace. He was in the moment, and he would stay there for as long as possible.

The bites all over his body began to fade into his skin, being absorbed by the energy he was putting out. The part of his earlobe that had been taken away by a ball of dark essence started to regrow, and he was just a little bit more aware of his physique. He could feel the ends of his fingertips and toes with precisions, and he felt very agile at the moment. Of course, he wasn't the only one being affected by the spell, and Edwin could feel the man running faster.

Edwin finally felt truly powerful, and he knew he could jump to his feet any time, but he chose to stay held within the man's arms, mostly because it was easier and they could make more distance. Now Edwin opened his eyes and looked back at the Orve mages. They were still launching projectiles, but they seemed to have less energy, and the two were definitely gaining distance.

It was now apparent to Edwin that they didn't have a healer, which made sense, considering none of them were Elves. It was extremely rare for an Orve to be a healer; most of them learned offense spells. But in larger, more organized armies, there were always at least a dozen soldiers dedicated to supporting the others. Obviously, this particular group of Orves was not very organized, and it could be easily assumed by he look of how they were running that they were a hunting party, used to only catching wild game.

Just as Edwin believed that they were invulnerable to anything that could possibly affect them, the man dropped the the ground, writhing in pain. Edwin looked to see what was wrong, but he couldn't see anything, at least, until he saw the man's leg. A pillar of rock had been shoved through it so incredibly fast that most of the tissue instantly disintegrated. The rock had broken into shards that had spread throughout his leg and made him completely immobile. It was quite an effective weapon.

Edwin thought for a moment about what he could do to heal the leg, glanced up at the impending doom that was the group of hunting Orves, and then checked the man's leg again. He had stopped writhing in pain, which was bad, and on top of the fact that he would have to dig out every single shard of rock embedded in his leg, Edwin decided that now was not the time to help him. So, he stood up, straightened his back, and closed his eyes. One would think that he would be hit with a projectile with his eyes closed, but one would also be completely incorrect, as Edwin conjured a shield.

When he opened his eyes, he realized he had encased himself and the man within the oak of a very thick tree. It wasn't an authentic tree, of course, as it was hollow, but it would work for what he needed to do. It was dark and damp inside the tree, and Edwin couldn't see much of anything, so he dropped to his knees and fumbled for the man's leg. He called out for him once with no answer shortly before finding the man's head, and he got to work patching up the leg.

Edwin struggled to make a plan, and fixing the man could never be part of it, in any feasible world, at least. It would be near-impossible for one to get all of the shards of rock that were in the man's leg out, as some were the size of pebbles, and that was considering that you had all the time in the world (and all of the patience in it, too).

Edwin had five minutes at most before the Orves broke through the thick bark of the oak.