"You have to admit that the power boosts are really amazing." Silas nudged Fawn's shoulder with his.
She shook her head with a sigh. "Of course all you think about is the power."
"That's not what I meant." He frowned, grabbing his broom. "All I meant was that having extra power to help those in need is pretty amazing. I envied you for your power for a long time. Now that I have that level of power, I want to use it to help other mages when they need it. That's all I meant."
Silas didn't wait for a reply as he mounted the broom and took off.
Fawn ran her hands through her hair. "I didn't mean to piss him off." She grabbed her broom and took off after him before we could say anything.
"Those two are more alike than they want to admit," Aimon said with a chuckle.
Jasper and I nodded in agreement.
"We better catch up to them," Bastian groaned as we jumped on our brooms and followed close behind them.
The gray sky had turned black with a smear of clouds. Over the grasslands, a dense mist twined itself around all of the blades of grass. The warm breeze turned cool as more lightning struck across the sky.
"You have a point!" Fawn screamed over the rumble of thunder.
Silas's speed slowed as he allowed Fawn, and the rest of us, to catch up to him. "I know I was a complete asshole to you at first, but that's not who I am. I will spend the rest of our eternity proving it to you. I'm not power-hungry, but I do see the benefits of having power."
"I know that." Fawn's voice came out soft and understanding. Her grip on her broom tightened so hard that her knuckles turned white. "I'm sorry, Silas. I can see the benefits of having power to help. I just wish I had that outlook from the beginning."
Silas opened his mouth wide to stretch his jaw as he shook his head. "I get it. I probably wouldn't have this outlook if I was thrown into this the way you were. But those who did this to you are dead and gone. We aren't. We can take what they did to you and make a difference. One thing I promise you, muse, is that you will never be alone doing this again."
Fawn's pretty blue eyes filled with tears and spilled over her cheeks as she sniffled. "Thank you. To be honest, ever since I bonded the five of you, I've noticed my magic has been stronger than before. That used to scare me until now."
I stretched a wisp of light toward her, and as it made contact with her tears, they evaporated. "Don't cry, sunshine. Silas is being sweet, and I don't want to have to hurt him for making you cry."
Silas scoffed. "Like you could."
Aimon chuckled. "I mean, hehas. Remember that time in the crescent desert last year?"
"Itdidhappen," Jasper chuckled, running a hand through his hair. His broom flew right and bumped into Bastian's from the wobble.
Bastian scrambled to hold onto his broom and bumped him back. "Watch where you're flying!"
Jasper just chuckled as he evened his broom out. "My bad."
"Anyway, I have one of the rage potions they're using on the monsters that I took from the palace in the Revivium empire." Bastian's lips pursed, and his pink eyes stared ahead as he got lost in thought. "I might be able to create an antidote with having access to the potion itself."
"That would be more than amazing." Fawn breathed out, glancing over at Bastian with the biggest smile on her face.
Bastian's cheeks tinged pink as he smiled back at her. "It's not a guarantee, but I think it's a possibility. I just need time to work on it."
"Then we'll get you time," Fawn promised.
As the capital came into vision, my heart plummeted. At the entrance to the capital, where the stores were, an abominal rampaged. Three small abominals followed the bigger monster, and they had to be its young. Abominals were large, primate monsters that lived in the Abominal Mountains. The mountain range stretched out into all three empires, so the monsters were common in the world, but they had never been known to stray so far from their territory unless they were sick and dying. Even then, they were so protective of their young they would have never left the mountains with them in tow like this.
It was definitely the work of the rage potion.
The abominal roared with anger, plowing through guards and nearby mages with brute force. Their screams made me sick. I couldn't believe one abdominal could do so much damage. The young only followed behind.
Bastian flew down low enough to toss a few potions at it, and the vials shattered on the monster. Steam sizzled up as the substance ate through the monster's flesh and fur.
That seemed only to piss it off more as it thrashed out toward anyone it could get its claws in, grabbing an unfortunate guard that was standing too close and ripping the mage in half with one tug.
Blood spewed everywhere, and Fawn gasped. "Oh, spirits..."
