Page 29 of Ruins of Magic
“My friends are waiting above. I need to get back to them,” Arion said.
She shook her head sadly. “I’m afraid there’s no way out. I’ve been stuck in here my entire life, more than a thousand years. There’s no getting out.”
“That’s not acceptable,” Arion said. “I am a druid. I am a prince. I have powers I didn’t even know about. I’m going to find a way out.”
With that affirmation the bubble began to rise.
“How are you doing that?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” he confessed.
Arion closed his eyes and let himself think of Valaria. His only true regret in his entire life had been not telling her how he felt about her. He couldn’t die down here living with the regret for the rest of his life.
As he thought about her, a light started to emanate from him growing brighter and brighter until it nearly burst free from within.
“What is happening?” the undine asked.
“This place isn’t real,” Arion said. “Remember that. It isn’t real, it’s only in your mind.”
With that final thought the bubble surrounding him burst and he could feel the thick tar once again. He reached his hands upwards praying he was heading in the right direction.
“There! I see him!” He heard Valaria’s voice seconds before he was pulled from the pit.
“Man, you smell disgusting,” Garron complained. “What happened? You were gone so long we thought you were dead. Valaria refused to give up there. It’s been hours.”
“An undine helped save me, I think,” he said wondering if that had only been a dream as well. Regardless he had fought through it and somehow he was certain he was back to reality.
Varlaria threw herself into his arms the second he was safe on the shore. Then she pulled back and smacked him hard in the arm before hugging him a again. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again,” she whispered.
He was about to tell her what he’d discovered. It was on the tip of his tongue to confess his feelings for her, but the moment was interrupted by a bright light, even brighter than the one he’d opened his eyes to beneath the tar.
The undine burst free of the tar. She cheered and flipped through the air before landing on the ground beside them.
“Thank you,” she told Arion. “In all these years I’ve watched as others have come to battle their own demons. I never once dreamed that the thick tar covering the lake was my own demons.” With a wave of her hand the tar disappeared revealing a sparkling lake beneath it.
“Wow, it’s beautiful,” Valaria said.
“There is still so much magic here that I would not risk drinking the water, but I can help you cross it safely,” the undine said. “That is, if you wish to continue.”
“I have to,” Arion said.
“Very well,” the undine said, and with a flick of her wrist a large wave crashed on the shore and grabbed up the three of them and all their possessions. They road the wave across the lake and safely to the other shore.
“Thank you,” Arion said to her.
“No. Thank you.”
“Where will you go now?” he asked her.
She smiled. “My kind is quite resilient. I am unable to believe even the darkest of magic could destroy us all. I will search the lands of Amaria and all of the seas until I find them once again.”
“Good luck to you,” he told her as they watched her disappear.
Chapter12
“Where to next?” Garron asked.
“I don’t know, there’s a path over there. Let’s try that direction,” Arion said.
