Chapter 96: Chapter 96

Noel warded off my ball of fire with water magic, and retaliated by chucking a rock at me. I dodged it and began tossing a bunch of tiny pebbles at her. We traded spells as we retreated further and further from the edge. Noel was breathing heavily, and was being very careful with her spells. I kept trying to force her to shield herself with magic, rather than letting her dodge my attacks. By forcing her to keep using her magical energy, I was sure I could wear her down.

Noel definitely realized what was happening, as she began getting creative with her attacks. She tried turning the ground beneath my feet into mud, and even tried lighting the grass on fire, but I used some fireballs as cover to step out of the mud and circle around the fire. I cornered her between two spells, or got in close to launch a fireball, forcing her to use magic to block my attacks. I prepared a slingshot with magic hands, and launched a large rock towards her legs. She jumped up, but had to create a massive wall of water to block the fire I was spewing towards her.

Her silver her was wet with sweat, turning a dull shade of gray. The bright sunlight was disorientating, especially because it wasn’t very warm. The high altitude meant the air was thin and cold, which meant the sweat on our bodies was cold, and each laboring breath felt insufficient. I could already feel a pain in my chest. My vision wobbled every time I had to scrounge up some energy for a spell, but I grit my teeth and kept pouring out fireballs, slingshots, and earth magic. I even used gusts of wind to obscure Noel’s vision and to make it harder for her to breath. Our battle had already turned this one pristine landscape into a smoky, gouged out patch of earth, nestled among the unforgiving mountain terrain.

I didn’t have the energy to say anything, but I wanted to ask Noel to surrender. I had a feeling she wouldn’t have the energy to reply, but would probably ask me to give up first. I couldn’t dwell on my thoughts, since my head was feeling lighter by the minute, but I couldn’t help but wince every time a fireball got too close to Noel’s body, or when a rock that I chucked towards her cut a nasty gash on her shoulder.

Surely, Noel knew that she was losing? Was she planning on fighting until her last breath? She’d die from exhaustion, or from a wayward spell. Even if our spells were getting weaker, they could still be deadly if they hit the wrong place at the wrong angle. As I threw another stone towards her, I wondered what was going on. A possibility floated into my head.

She wanted to turn the tables with one attack. She knew she was losing, she knew she would collapse first in this battle of magical attrition, but she knew I was getting tired too. And if I was tired, I might make a mistake. She was counting on me to lower my guard or be too tired to respond properly. Then, she would gather the rest of her energy and try to finish me off in one go.

I scrambled my brain trying to think about things she could do. I was too far away from the edge for her to send me falling again. She’d already tried the mud trick, and it didn’t work. She wasn’t very good at light or gravity magic, so I doubted that was it. A large wall of fire? No, that didn’t make any sense. I’d protect myself with some water and be happy that she’d spent all of her energy on a flashy move like that.

Could she try to use air magic to suck the air out of my lungs? No, that would require a powerful understanding of the anatomy of elfin lungs, as well as a degree of control over the wind that neither of us could pull off. It was also a really dumb idea, since she would have to continue pushing air out in order for it to work, and neither of us could make air vacuums yet.

What about water magic? No, she couldn’t exactly drown me or dehydrate my body or anything. Earth? Again, she was already using that, just like fire, but it wasn’t very useful. Wait, what if she’d figured out how to use still-life magic after all? No, even if she froze my motion, she would be frozen too. She couldn’t use that magic for the same reason I couldn’t.

Then what? I stared at her hard, observing her every action as I slowly pressed her further and further into exhaustion. She was definitely on the verge of collapsing, if not from exhaustion, then from dehydration caused by the immense amount of sweat that was pouring over her body.

At one edge of the now ruined meadow, was another steep incline made of what looked like black, volcanic ash. It was a little strange seeing such starkly dark land pressed up against the green meadows, although I suppose our battle had made the two look a little similar. The ground up there was loose and crumbled easily.

Noel backed up against the loose ground, gasping violently for air. Her lungs must have been on fire. I should know, my own lungs felt like they were dangling over a Bunsen burner. Trying to save some energy, I grabbed a large rock with my own hands, and approached Noel. The rock was some sort of brittle but sharp volcanic rock, not too different from the flint the tribesmen had been using when I first came to this world.

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“Give up,” I managed to say between gasping breaths.

Noel blinked the sweat out of her eyes and stared at me. She took a step back, but her foot caught on something, so she stumbled and fell on her back. For some reason, despite having fought such a grueling battle against her, I still felt the urge to walk forward and help her up. Maybe that was her final trick?

Now that I had Noel on the ropes, so to speak, I was actually a little perplexed. What now? I didn’t want to kill her or hurt her too badly, but I knew she wasn’t going to just give up and come quietly. Did I need to tie her up somehow? No, she’d just gather her energy and burn through the rope or something. I frowned, unsure about what I should do.

“Noel,” I said, after gathering my breath, “I’ve won. You fought hard, but I’m still standing and you’re not. I don’t want to hurt you. Please, listen to what I have to say, alright?”

No reply. I knew I was giving her the chance to take a breather and regain her energy, but I had absolutely no idea what else I could do. I had no choice, but to trust her. I wouldn’t ‘win’ by losing my best friend in this world. I had to get through to her, not with violence, but with words.

“Noel, I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry for your loss. I know it hurts, and I know my words will feel hollow and empty, but I want you to know that I will miss them too. They were your family. Our worlds may look at family differently, but I promise you, I care about family just as you do.

“When I lost my mother, it felt like a part of me died with her. The part of me that knew there was one place where I could always feel safe, loved, and cared for. The part of me that felt young and innocent. Like the worries of the world could not get to me, not through my mother’s warm embrace. It took a while for the sorrow to set in. For me to realize, I would never see her goofy, crooked smile again. For me to realize, I would miss her voice. Her laughter, her chiding, her awful, awful jokes.

“I imagined the feeling of hugging her once more. A ghostly hug, where my skin felt like it was touching something, something tangible and real, but my mind knew my tears were falling only on the floor. I had forgotten when I’d last spoken to her. I had forgotten her final words.

“I know it’s hard to move on, and I am not asking you to do that. Not yet. Maybe not ever. It is up to you, how you deal with grief. But you don’t have to take it out on these people. These people who gave us food and shelter. The Roja tribe escorted us all the way to Bek Tepe. They sent one of their own, little Kelser, to guide us even further. Even the human Jora tribe, they welcomed us. No, they more than welcomed us, they embraced us with open arms.

“You spoke of eradicating their tribe, like their ancestors did to yours. But were you going to kill their children? Babies who can’t speak. Children too young to even comprehend your grievances. Would you kill them too? And if you didn’t, would you leave them with the same hollow feeling that their ancestors have left you? Ghostly smiles, phantom embraces, and a family only in memory?

“I am sorry, I didn’t ask about your tribe’s customs and beliefs. I am sorry that I did not realize what the manner of your tribe’s death means to you, but surely there must be another way. Another way to help your family be at peace, without ruining your own conscience, and turning an entire generation into corpses or orphans.”