The expedition to bring back more water was on its way back when it stopped because of a light pillar in the distance. Everyone froze, wondering what it was.
Corwal was in the lead, and his eyes instantly shifted to the ether around him. It was vibrating as if barely resisting someone's call. 'Resisting a call?'
His gaze returned to the light pillar, and he knew what it was. There was no logical reason to think that way, but he was certain of it. Something had happened in the camp, and Arawn had lost it.
But this power… it shouldn't be humanly possible. The amount of materialized ether sent into the air was simply unsurmountable. Even the archmage himself wouldn't be able to repeat this feat.
"Stay here," he ordered the people behind him.
"What is it?" one of the four other mages asked. "You know what that is?"
It wasn't knowledge, but an instinct. And Corwal trusted his instincts. "Just stay here and don't get any closer. I'll come get you when it's safe."
Without waiting for more questions, he dashed forward. The forest wasn't a dense one, but there were plenty of bushes and fallen trees obstructing his path. He jumped over some, went under others, and only when both options were unavailable did he blast through them with ether.
It was a waste of energy, but he didn't think twice about doing it. Something really wrong had happened, and it was paramount that he got there on time. If that was even possible.
What could have happened to Arawn though? He'd seemed busy with training and hadn't gotten into conflicts with anyone. Had some guards agitated him purposefully when Corwal had left? But what purpose could they have for that? Arawn was a nobody. One couldn't tell him apart from a hundred others his age.
Unless someone questioned where he got so much ether. He'd been practicing for days without stop. The quantities he used were small, but it was pure ether. Even strong practitioners would find themselves exhausted after a few hours.
When he was close to the camp, Corwal slowed to catch his breath and appraise the situation before he jumped into whatever was happening.
A cut off scream was his first warning that something was way worse than he'd thought. He crouched and advanced with more cautiousness.
Whimpering came next, and the rusty stench of blood. It was mixed with an even more revolting smell, and Corwal knew someone's stomach had been cut open.
At that moment, he reached the clearing. While keeping himself behind a tree, he glanced at the camp.
The ground was littered with dismembered bodies. Some corpses were only cut in half while others were torn into five or more pieces. The body parts lay scattered all over the field, making it impossible to tell what had belonged to whom.
A crimson carpet lay on the ground, without a single place retaining the green of grass. Corwal tried to guess how many people had been cut down, but there was just no way to tell.
One thing he could tell though was that they weren't part of the caravan. 'So they were attacked?' It explained why Arawn might have been pushed into fighting back, but such violence didn't seem like him.
One of the bodies whimpered again. The sound was low, muted, but something behind the circle of wagons heard it. Like an animal, it jumped onto the wagon with ether-induced agility and scanned the ground. Upon noticing the still alive person, it sent a dozen ether blades their way with a ferocious growl.
It took Corwal a long moment to realize that the humanoid creature was Arawn. The clothes were the same, but it was where the similarities started and ended.
The person on the wagon shone like a beacon. His hair was a waterfall of shimmering light, and his eyes burned like two suns. There seemed to be no pupils in them, but that didn't seem to obstruct the man's sight.
His skin was paper thin, and light shone from within him. Ether was coursing through his veins mixed in with blood, yet it didn't seem to be hurting him. He was on the verge of self-destructing, but in control of the power surging through him. This should have been impossible, but he made it look effortless.
'Now I see why he was so eager to let the ether inside him. This is crazy.'
Corwal shook his head, dispelling the unnecessary thoughts. His current task was to figure out what to do instead of to muse on the past. If he wasn't careful, even he might join the crowd on the ground.
Arawn's head swiveled in his direction, his burning eyes meeting those of Corwal. Before Corwal could even swear, the man jumped off the wagon and lunged forward. His movements didn't resemble those of the youth who could barely lift a sword.
"Arawn, it's me!" Corwal shouted out, taking the chance to step out from behind the tree.
He raised his hands to make sure he looked as defenceless as possible. His instincts screamed at him to bring ether at the ready, but he doubted it would do him any good. Before the creature—and he was starting to realize that it was a creature and not Arawn—his command of ether would be nothing more than a light show.
"I'm Corwal. We know each other," he said again once the creature came close.
It stopped a couple meters away from him, watching him with its burning eyes. At this distance, Corwal could see the twisted expression on the youth's face. He didn't look pained per se, but his face muscles were taut.
He growled from deep in his throat, the sound more animal than human, and raised his right hand. It hadn't transformed into anything, but he held it with fingers bent a little as if they were claws.
"Arawn?"
The young man tilted his head, his hair shimmering with light. He was so bright that Corwal was forced to squint at him. Was it really necessary to make him go blind before killing him? It seemed like a meaningless cruelty.
"Do you remember me?"
It was good that he hadn't been mowed down by a blade of ether upon first sighting, but Corwal was starting to feel tension build at the pit of his stomach. He was more than certain of himself when faced with normal challenges, but this was a bit out of his expertise. How was his luck so bad that all people he came to like ended up turning into monsters?
After another moment, Arawn lowered his head and growled in a low voice to himself. He made a couple noises like he was talking to somebody, then the light around him vanished. One second it was there, and the next it was all gone.
Corwal had to blink twice to readjust his vision to the dim evening's sun. Carefully, he took a step forward.
Arawn's head snapped up, and Corwal held up his hands sheathed in ether, but the young man's gaze no longer held the underworld's fires. They were a dark blue, looking at him with the sorrow of shattered innocence.
There were no tears, but Corwal suddenly felt a heavy weight land on his shoulders. It pressed on him like a thousand mountains, and only because of his strong will did he remain standing.
"I killed again," Arawn said without any inflection in his voice.
He sat down on the blood-splattered ground with his back to the massacre and pulled his knees to his chest. He put his head on them and closed his eyes like he was about to fall asleep.
"Oh no you won't!"
Corwal grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him up to his feet. The young man windmilled with his hands, barely keeping his balance as he glanced up with terrified eyes. "Wha—?"
"You're coming with me." Corwal pulled Arawn by the shoulder into the blood drenched field. "I don't have time for you to lock yourself up in your mind. First, we need to look for survivors, and then you're going to tell me what happened here."
"But…"
"Shut it. This is your mess and we have to solve it before anyone arrives. Everyone in a ten mile radius should have seen that pillar of light. We have to be gone before they arrive."
There was shock and disbelief on Arawn's face, but Corwal didn't care for it. This was better than the youth losing himself in what he'd done. Corwal had seen enough people not able to walk out of that hole to let it happen again.
They could discuss it later, once the events and emotions weren't so fresh. For now, they just had to get out and make sure there were no witnesses.
While he was looking under a wagon where he thought he'd heard something move, Arawn spoke. "Don't you hate me?" His voice was the same as before, without any inflection.
"Do you think this is the first massacre I've seen? Caravans get attacked all the time. With mages around, it's the usual outcome that one side gets obliterated."
"Why are you being so flippant!" the youth shouted out, finally showing emotion. His face flushed red, and he fisted his hands by his sides. "I murdered everyone! Everyone! I'm an abomination!"
Corwal glanced back at him. "Maybe." He then pulled back and went to look under the next wagon.
"You-you-you're crazy! What's wrong with you? I killed all these people like cutting grass!"
"So?" Corwal turned and crossed his arms. "Did you do it for the fun of it? Because it's amusing? Or were you pushed into a corner and had no other option but to retaliate?"
"I…" Arawn opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. He repeated it a couple times, but no words came out.
With a sigh, Corwal relaxed his tense shoulders and lowered his hands. "We don't live in the perfect world you keep holding onto. Ether isn't violent on its own, but people are. Do you know why I pick up and teach people like you and Eliot before leaving them in good places? It's not because I'm a saint; I've just seen too many massacres like this.
"When emotions are high, untaught people, especially children, tend to burst out with uncontrollable power. They usually die from overuse, but so does everyone around them—their family, neighbors, or whoever else is standing close at that moment.
"What I see here is exactly the same. You were attacked and fought back, losing control of the massive power at your command. It's not common for anyone to be this strong, but it doesn't mean it's not the same problem.
"So why should I hate you or call you a monster? I hate the system and how it doesn't care about its people. You're twenty-something, right? At this age, you should have been by the king's side, serving as his strongest mage to better the country and not here with me in the middle of nowhere, losing control because no one had even considered giving you a few hints on how to hold yourself together."
Corwal examined the wagon and hit a hidden compartment in which a woman with her two children hid. They cowered upon seeing him, eyes wide like saucers.
"Come out," he ordered in a level voice.