“I told that idiot to be home before dark!” Gabriel muttered angrily to himself as he threw on a wool shawl. The sun had set an hour ago, and Era had yet to come home. Slamming the door behind him, Gabriel set out in search of his houseguest. This road’s pretty safe, so I doubt bandits got him or something, he thought, but it doesn’t hurt to be sure.
Half an hour later, he was in the woods, adrenaline pumping through him. “Era! You out here, kid?” he shouted. He’d been shouting for him the whole way, so far unsuccessfully. “Hey Era! Eravisté!! Answer me!!”
He suddenly heard a voice echo from deeper into the woods, too far for him to make out the words. “Hold on, kid, I’m on my way,” he shouted back, angry at himself for feeling so relieved.
“Gabriel!” cried Era’s voice. Gabriel thought he heard him right nearby, but saw nothing but shadows and trees.
“Where are you, you dunce?”
“Erm… Look up.”
He did so, and his face immediately screwed up into suppressed laughter. Era was hopelessly tangled into the branches above Gabriel’s head and hanging onto a thicker limb for dear life. His eyes were wide as saucers as he looked helplessly down at Gabriel.
No longer able to hold back, Gabriel doubled over laughing. “How the fuck did you get up there?” he said in between gasps for air. “Were you chasing a squirrel or something?”
“It’s not funny!!” Era yelled indignantly and with an edge of panic to his tone. “Please just help me down!!”
“Alright, alright,” Gabriel replied, grinning like a loon. “Just give me a moment to figure out how.”
“Do hurry.”
He looked over the tree, straining his eyes in the darkness. “How’d you get up there again?”
“I, well… I’ll explain it later when I can think a little more coherently,” Era replied shakily.
“Alright then.”
A few minutes later after a cursory glance around the immediate area, he looked back up to Era. “I’ve got an idea, but it’s going to take a bit of trust to do right. Okay?”
“Very well. What is it?”
“I’m going to form a pillar of air underneath you and float you down.”
“But I thought you said you’d lost your knack for magic!”
“Well, can you think of anything better? It’s that or I come up there and get you, risking dropping you. Unless you think you can hold on another hour while I run back for some rope?” he asked sarcastically.
“Ah… please be careful, then.”
“You got it.” Gabriel sat himself down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to breathe deeply. After many moments had passed, Era thought he sensed a strange power emanating from him. I can feel it, he thought, I feel the mana swirling around him.
His limbs had long since stopped shaking from the effort of holding onto the tree; now they had settled into a constant, burning ache. I hope he hurries up, Era thought anxiously, I can’t hold on much longer.
Just as the thought ran across his mind, he began to feel a breeze gently brush his skin. As the moments wore on, the air rushed faster and faster beneath him, rippling his robes and shoving the bridge of his glasses into his nose. “Gabriel! When do I let go!?” he shouted, barely louder than the roar of the wind.
“Now!!” he yelled back. He snapped his eyes open, and Era swore that he saw them, for the briefest second, glow bright red-orange.
He had planned on letting go slowly and carefully, but Era’s arms gave out the moment he allowed his grip to weaken. He fell parallel to the ground, stray branches scraping his arms, before abruptly slowing a few feet from the earth. A mighty wind held him aloft that roared in his ears and watered his eyes. He floated for only a few seconds before Gabriel’s control over the air faltered, and Era fell face-first into the dirt. Other than having the wind knocked out of him, however, he was unharmed.
Taking a moment to catch his breath, Era rolled over, his arms too tired to lift himself up. He looked over at Gabriel, who was gasping for breath and coated in sweat. They both rested in the middle of the woods for a few minutes, shivering as the wind passed over them.
“You alright, kid?” Gabriel asked at last, still sweaty but with his breath returned to him. Era still lay flat on the ground, but he turned towards his friend and smiled.
“Yes, I’m alright. Thank you so much,” he said gratefully.
“Just tell me how the hell you got up there so we can avoid doing that again,” he said sourly.
“Gabriel, I… I think I used magic.”
“Wait, what?” Incredulity flashed across Gabriel’s face.
“It couldn’t have been anything else, I just… I got lost in my own thoughts, and then I felt this magnificent power within me, and then I was floating,” he rushed, “but then I opened my eyes and panicked at how high I was, and I lost my focus and fell. It’s rather a miracle that I’m alive, actually.”
“You… you are…” Gabriel sputtered. “What the fuck were you thinking?! Do you know how dangerous it is to use magic without knowing what you’re doing?!”
“Well, I—”
“The correct answer is ‘No Gabriel, I sure don’t!’” he angrily mocked. “Are you trying to get yourself killed or something?! Do you miss the Reaper that badly?!”
“Stop it!!” Era yelled, surprising both of them. Gabriel shut his mouth, glaring at him expectantly.
“I know… it wasn’t safe,” he continued, “but I didn’t know what was happening. It seems rather unfair to punish me for my ignorance.”
Gabriel grunted. “You’re smarter than you let on, kid,” he muttered. “Let’s go home.”
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