Chapter One #2
Once they’d all seen that the amazing Enchanter Evergreen had arrived on the scene, their relief and belief bubbled above their panic.
Milo furiously eradicated the smaller fiends, punching pulses of banishment which rippled through the air and slapped goopy tar until it erupted into glowing white wisps.
Those glimmering lights bounced together, seeking to regather and become destructive again.
I ground my teeth, unable to discern if that aggravation came from Milo or me.
I banished a handful of wisps, irritated by each person gawking at Enchanter Evergreen’s work instead of fleeing so they didn’t get in his way.
He was pissed too but mostly at some acolyte.
“ She had one job today. An opportunity that would properly cement her position. Instead, here I am ruining one of my few well-crafted carefree days off. ”
Milo cleared away each of the lesser fiends and their wispy fragments, then focused on the behemoth of a fiend growing with each toxic breath.
Despite all the energy it enveloped, its thoughts remained disorganized.
A dangerous fiend in size and might but still quite far from transcending into a sentient demon.
Yet Milo’s mind flooded with terror at the idea an actual demon would emerge.
Why? So few demons surfaced in cities, and this behemoth was still far from self-awareness and the level of devastation a demon could cause.
My throat tightened at the bloody images Milo and I both kept buried in the past, horrors neither wanted to unbox. That was why his mind went to the worst first. Finn.
Milo wasn’t worried about a vision he’d had of a fiend ascending but remembering the genuine terror that came when encountering one.
I swallowed hard, struggling to compose my reaction to his thoughts while he worked faster and harder to demolish this demonic creature, unfazed by his own panic attack.
Milo flew forward, pummeling the body and breaking off tar limbs with precise use of his combined root magics. The fury inside him intensified, but he turned to his audience, instinctively smiling for their benefit.
Milo had worked hard to come up with an outing for us to enjoy this weekend. Each of his well laid plans faded with every blow he struck onto the fiend.
Our walkabout in this nook of the city.
Our shopping spree which I was okay losing out on.
Our lunch at a restaurant where he was absolutely certain no one would recognize him—that was never true.
He was always recognized, but we’d gone on a few dates unbothered.
Mostly just curious onlookers who’d never worked up the nerve to ask for his autograph and assumed I was a random client.
I preferred the discretion. It was difficult enough sorting through my feelings for Milo; I didn’t need everyone else in my head evaluating my relationship with the great Enchanter Evergreen, too.
I hovered in the air. Tar erupted into nothingness. A shimmer of white wispy orbs mixed with a screeching smog holding the last uttering roars of a dying fiend. Sweat trickled down my brow, evaporating as I channeled my sensory root.
The moisture from my body caused a spasm in my calves from the swift dehydration, but I pressed on, searching further with my banishment at the ready. Two root magics purely tailored for seeking out and eliminating any demonic presence, yet there was nothing to find or remove.
In an instant, Milo had arrived and cleared the entire scene. I’d say our date was still very much intact. Well, once his adoring fans had their fill.
My muscles were tense from channeling all four root magics, so I quelled sensory and banishment immediately.
Carefully, I severed my use of levitation and telekinesis, lightly landing onto the cleared street.
The asphalt made my feet ache through the thin soles of my shoes.
Or perhaps I ached from too much casting. It didn’t matter.
This helped me improve. I wasn’t a guild enchanter by any means, but I had an enchanter license, and I wanted to put it and my magics to use. Especially since my rusty magics nearly cost me and my students our lives last semester.
Milo smiled at the crowd, his audience, and eyed me out of the corner of his bright blue eyes. “ This is going to be awhile. ”
“ I can wait. ” I reached for my smokes and propped up against a lamppost.
“ These fiends funneled from elsewhere, so once I’ve secured things here, I’ve got to handle that. ” Milo grimaced for a fraction of a second, which only a single small child caught. “Hey there.” Milo knelt, making eye contact with them, and beamed. “You okay?”
The kid nodded, smiling back.
I stuffed my pack of smokes back into my pocket. This was why he’d wanted to avoid intervening. Enchanter Evergreen didn’t have quick and easy jobs. Eliminating threats. Securing an area. Showing off in front of citizens. Rinse, repeat, and answer the call to the next clairvoyant vision.
I sighed. Between my classes and his never-ending guild work, time alone was challenging. Milo’s surface thoughts shifted between addressing his adoring audience to searching for wherever the demonic energy originated.
No point sticking around, given his mind had locked onto another case.
The whole reason for a day date was because Milo’s nights had gotten longer since ending the surge of warlock factions.
Now we couldn’t enjoy a simple Sunday afternoon.
Well, he couldn’t. I was going to spend it feeling this clammy and anxious no matter what.
Now, I had the pleasure of doing that at home alone.
Locking myself away from everyone else used to be a reprieve from the world. But as I went home without Milo, it was just isolating.
Gratitude from several dozen minds beamed brighter than the sunlight cutting through the cloudy sky.
Each person exuded elation for their Enchanter Evergreen.
That was the difficulty of walking beside Milo, or in this instance, standing on the sidelines.
None of this felt like my story. Perhaps an involuntary drawback to telepathy or teaching or both.
I spent so much time wrapped in other people’s worlds, it had become impossible to discern what I wanted in my own.