Mage Of Shadows - Chapter 5 Wit And Fire

It only took a single moment to transform the quiet, tranquil forest into an explosion of chaos. Smoke bellowed into the air, wafting through trees and fauna. The oxygen in the air was thinned out to the point that in every breath, smoke would fill the lungs of Favian. A raging inferno crept into the vicinity, and all the trees in the vicinity were slowly being turning charred. Screams of panic could be heard from the distance, and all of the wildlife fled from the scene, hoping to keep their lives.

‘Holy s**t, what is going on?’ panic washed over Favian as he stared out of the window. Even though he had worked many long hours at his medical school, and seen many disfigured victims of accidents, he had never himself been placed into a setting which could only be likened to a natural disaster. His mind went blank, and he froze, unable to even lift a finger. Out of the corner of his eyes however, he could barely make out a shadowy figures rushing to a carriage not too far away from his. The smokescreen caused by the forest fire blurred his vision by an amount, and he couldn’t make out exactly where this shadow disappeared to.

“Favian, stay in the carriage. I’ll go check out what’s going on.” Aria was calm, not fazed at all. She looked outside, her gaze the embodiment of tranquillity, however beneath this, it could be noticed that there was a storm bubbling. It truly was the calm before the storm. The would-be recipient of her wrath should run as far away as they could, because Aria would be ruthless.

Slowly, Aria left the carriage and proceeded to fly off into the air. Had Favian blinked, then he would have missed her soaring off completely.

[Ding! 1 hostile figure spotted 15 metres to the northeast. New quest available. Would host like to receive quest ‘Stealing from thieves’ 500 experience reward?]

Favian contemplated for a moment, and decided to press ‘Accept’ to receive the quest. Even though there was the danger of this enemy figure being stronger than himself, he didn’t know how many quests his game system would give him, or how else he could currently make experience. ‘I need to question the system later as to how I can make more experience.’

‘Without risks, there won’t be any rewards’ he thought to himself. If he could see that he won’t be able to steal from this thief, he would immediately run to the safety of the carriage. He wanted to gather some experience, not die.

Favian left the carriage, and slowly started walking in the direction given to him by the game system. Smoke obscured his vision, and every time he breathed in, he could feel his insides heating up. After walking very slowly towards the location, making sure to be as quiet and alert as possible, Favian reached what seemed to be a wagon. The wagon was huge, approximately 30 feet in length, 10 feet in width and another 10 feet in height.

Where there should have been horses which accompanied the wagon and carried it on the journey, there was now only empty space and hooves prints. The doors to the wagon were open wide and unhinged to the side, as if they were forcibly opened and broke a lock.

As Favian moved closer to the entrance of the wagon, he could hear scurried footsteps. A man dressed completely in black was visible to Favian. Favian could make out that the man, who’s back was facing him, was wearing a black mask which covered his whole face. He looked like the ninjas which Favian had always seen on T.V. and in video games.

With a frustrated growl, the ninja looking figure exclaimed, “In the name of Eris where is this book? If I had known it would be this much of a hassle, I would’ve just stayed at home.” He seemed agitated, not noticing Favian behind him precisely due to his anger. He kept moving from shelf to shelf of items, throwing down bottles and tonics of liquids to vent out his frustration. Shattered glass littered the space in front of him.

Favian had no martial arts experience, and didn’t know any magical spells. He could only rely on his game system right now to give him the most effective strategy right now. ‘System, what spells are currently available to me right now?’ he asked hoping for some good news.

[Ding! Host can cast innate spell barrier for 10 mana points. Other spells currently unavailable, knowledge on spell casting is lacking]

‘S**t!’ it was exactly as he had thought. Just because he had been reborn with magical talent didn’t mean he suddenly had access to all the spells in the world.

‘I need to think of a plan ASAP. If I can somehow get this person to run away, I’ll probably have enough time to get to whatever this game system wants me to steal’ he thought to himself.

Favian didn’t have enough time to think about a good enough plan that would definitely succeed. Since the whole forest was on fire, he decided to go with some arson. Picking up a log of burning wood nearby, he proceeded to throw it into the wagon. As soon as he threw it inside, he hid in some foliage that had yet to start burning.

‘F**k it’s getting really hot here. Can you get out of there quickly buddy. I need whatever it is you haven’t found yet.’ sweat dripped down his forehead as he waited in anticipation for the thief to get out of the wagon.

A whole minute went by without any noise from inside the wagon; the thief still hadn’t left yet. Feeling that something was wrong, and not wanting to wait for the whole wagon to burn down because of him attempting to start a fire, Favian snuck towards its doors again. The sight he was met by left him surprised.

Knocked out unconscious on the floor was the thief. His head was pushed against a cupboard, with a burning log of wood having gained fire from some clothes. The flame was still small; however, it would only be a matter of minutes before the whole area inside would become a furnace.

[Ding! Achievement unlocked, Accidental Knockout. 250 experience received. Total experience 250]

“What the What’s up with these weird accomplishment?” Favian couldn’t help but speak out to himself. The achievements he received seemed way too specific and weird. He didn’t have the time to wonder about these things, so he sprinted inside near the unconscious man. After checking to make sure that he really was out, Favian then started rummaging through the items around him.

There were bars of gold, silver and copper, vials and clothing. There was also a shelf filled with different books. Not knowing what he was looking for, he resorted to asking the game system. ‘What is it I’m looking for? Or where can I find it?’

[Ding! Object is on the bookshelf, fifth to the right on the third shelf.]

Quickly, he found what he was looking for. A worn-down antique book, which was labelled ‘Darkness and Shadows’.

‘Seems like a cult book or some satanic tome’ Favian thought. The book was dark purple, and had various images on its cover depicting some form of symbol which he couldn’t make out. The book was really thick, however after flipping through it quickly, he could see that not even half of it was visible. Its age had left a mark on it, rubbing out a lot of the writing in it.

The small flame to the side of the wagon had started to flare up into a huge inferno, and the temperature increased suddenly to the point that Favian couldn’t stay any longer with the risks it posed to his health. With a sad look around at all the valuables strewn around, he ran out and back towards Aria’s carriage.

Something Favian hadn’t notice at first, was her carriage seemed to have some form of immunity to fire, as in a radius of roughly 5 meters no flames could affect any of the trees or foliage. As he jumped inside, a new notification popped up into his mind.

[Ding! Quest completed ‘Stealing from thieves’, 500 experience awarded; User was able to find the treasure which the thieves attempted to steal. Total experience 750.]

‘Interface can you show me how many hostiles are left in a 500-metre vicinity, and show me the location of Aria.’ He commanded his system. He was hoping to find somewhere to hide this valuable book before she came back.

[Ding! No hostiles in a 500-metre radius. Location of Aria is 2 kilometres to the west] the game system replied, with its usual monotonous AI voice.