I opened my mouth tasting water mixed with the salty sweat of my skin.
Someone had dropped water on my cheek and it was rolling into my mouth.
"Your awake little one".
'Shit'.
I recognized that voice, I had a decision to make.
If she didn't kill me already then I have something she wants.
I try and lift my arm but all I achieve is a fit of dry heaving.
I was turned on my side my back to the setting sun.
Mislin stood over me.
What she saw was a thin and hollowed husk of a human child.
My hand was swollen from infection and I was so thin my bones are visible, under my hood was uneven and burnt hair.
Mislin thought of the first time she met the boy, his complete understanding of the predator prey relationship.
He didn't beg for his life or panic and try to run either of which would have gotten him killed, he calmly looked for a way out.
During the second fated encounter he and his companion restrained Hoshin.
Even if he couldn't kill Hoshin, his preparations prevented the Syplh from holding or killing them easily.
If given time to grow this once little fish might turn into a dragon.
She crouched down looking the little monster in the eye.
She had slain Beast, Sylph and Humans.
Many have fallen to her in the past two hundred and fifty years.
They all had a look before they died, one of defiance and unwillingness.
But looking at the child she felt as if she was staring into the eyes of an ancient creature long devoid of any emotion, she clutched her saber hilt tightly.
"It seems we truly are fated little one".
'The odds of meeting you three times in my life is slimmer than ant shit' I thought.
"What do you want" I said forcing the words out made me cough and shake.
A small pouch and a water skin dropped in front of my face.
My arm krept out slowly but Mislins bare foot stepped on my wrist.
She took out a round silver ball with green markings all around it.
"Head north until you reach a river of sand, follow the river down stream and you will find the Western Mages".
"They will take you with them to train you".
"When you find the Western Mages pour your mana into this little orb and drop it in the nearest lake".
A tendril of her energy reached out into my diaphragm.
From the small speck of a mana core she went to my brain and it felt like tumors where growing in real time.
'You will do this for me' I felt her voice in my head.
'Western Mage'.
'River of sand, follow, follow, follow'
'Drop it, drop it, drop it'.
Her voice began echoing in my mind and I could hide nothing from her as she rummeged through my thoughts.
What she saw surprised her.
I was a deceitful bastard by any social order you measure me in.
She was getting a full peak in my plan, which was to reach for the water but grip my sword and drive the blade through her chin.
It seemed as if she was trying to influence me as I felt pressure in my mind, my screams muffled by my dry throat that cracked with every inhale and exhale.
'You wanted this' I thought.
That was the last thing Mislin heard before my tiny mana core sparked and a box inside me opened.
It was the box where I put all my memories of the blender, the ever increasing pain shredding my existence down, only to do it again and again.
A place where nothing existed not even the darkness that the living take for granted.
Mislins eyes rolled to the back of her head and I pushed off the ground, struggling to stand.
I grabbed the water skin and the sack of mana stones along with the round ball with markings.
I thought about ending Mislin here but I didn't have time, she probably wasn't alone.
I began a sloppy run, I limped as my shins felt like they would shatter at any moment.
I wonder if my condition is so bad because I used all my energy and this is a backlash.
It sure felt like it.
I slept for two days, I could tell time from my stomach ache, and the mana core with a little more energy in it had before.
I don't know how she found me but I could be surrounded.
Once I get a good half mile away I check my bag for Ava finding her in her liquid form, visibly smaller than before.
I drop a mana stone into the vial and take another in my hand.
Using what little bit of mana I accumulated while unconscious to syphon the energy as I ran.
Fear coursed through my veins as my heart beat, driving me forward whenever my body felt like crashing.
***
"Wake up Mislin" Ilmomo said shaking the limp body on the ground.
"What happened to you, where is the human"?
Ilmomo wasn't as worried about Mislin than she was the escaped human.
One word from him is all it will take for any one of the human kingdoms to hunt down the children, not to mention the Sylph who are even less forgiving.
"Wake up"! Ilmomo sent a pulse of mana with the next shake leading Mislin to open her eyes abruptly.
Ilmomo could have chased after the footprints in the sand but decided against it.
If the human had some sort of artifact to knock her out like he did Mislin then she wouldn't have anyone to come after her.
"It's a good thing we came Odo'ha was barely alive" Ilmomo said while pointing her webbed thumb behind her at the girl with dried blood who she carried over.
"I was trying to influence his mind, a young human mage is a rare find".
"But something happened, I think it was a backlash".
"You have a backlash? You are over two hundred and fifty years old how in Useja's name could you have a backlash"?
"Most cases a backlash would happen when the life of the one being assaulted has a longer lifespan but this was different, it was all of a sudden with no build up" Mislin said grabbing her head as she was still dealing with a massive migraine.
"Should we go after him"? Ilmomo asked.
"No, we need to get back and move the children, I don't sense my mark on him either" Mislin got up and checked her bag but noticed that her artifact was gone.
A smile spread across her face revealing the sharp rear teeth.
***
As soon as I was able to get enough mana in my core to make a tendril I reached out to Ava.
'Water' was all she heard repetitively so she sent her energy downwards to search for a water source.
Luckily we are still within range of the water leading back to the oasis and I gulped it down, saving the water skin for later.
Due to the one tendril holding all my thoughts Ava was able to see and feel all that happened until I cut the connection.
Once I was five miles away I felt the winds picking up, expecting a windstorm I head towards a sand dune ready to hunker down.
Sending a pulse of mana I sense a snake close by, I grinned savagely.
I catch and eat it raw.
I check on Ava again to find her mulling over her actions.
'If I had listened to you and dropped the grenade on them you wouldn't be in this situation'.
'Your right, but that's in the past, something I learned a long time ago is to forgive myself'.
'Forgive myself'?
'Yep, as long as your alive you can do better next time, forgive yourself and learn'.
I close my eyes as the howling winds lull me to sleep.