In the depths of a forest, an unlikely trio trudged through one of the main paths, a chef, a horse and a lunatic, or as Lucas referred to himself, the protagonist.
"So magic is activated through chanting, like saying fireball or stuff," asked Lucas inquiringly, Adara was surprised that a knight like him would have such a keen fascination about the magic arts, of course, she understood Lucas was far from normal.
"Or runes can be etched on an object that can resonate with magic energy, usually remains of mana beasts, in order to cast silently," told Adara, seemingly enjoying playing the role of wise teacher, even if it was just basic knowledge, she tried hard not to show it on her face. "Actually, I think I remember hearing how people on the Eastern continent can cast with hand signs, though I may be wrong, Ronan isn't exactly the best source of knowledge,"
Anox, the horse, neighed rather loudly, as if disappointed that it was not part of the conversation, not that it could input much anyway.
"What did it say? Is it talking bad about me? Tell it I'm doing my best!" Said Lucas who was slowly becoming a more and more embarrassed about his lack of knowledge.
"It's a horse, Lucas, it can't understand us and I can't understand it," responded Adara, once again doubting her company's intelligence.
Suddenly, however, the horse stopped, refusing to go any further along my the dirt path, frowning, Adara stepped off it, joining Lucas on the ground.
"What is it? Why are you stopping?"
Ignoring him, Adara instead briskly led the horse to the left of the road and, upon remembering her new ally, silently gestures for Lucas to follow, he did.
When they were all gathered ont a small outcrop of rocks, that was nicely tucked away on the side of the path, Adara begun making preparations.
"ne videas malum, ne audias malum, ne dixeris malum..." Muttered Adara, her eyes closed, it has been along time since she practised magic, due to the boundaries forced on her by Hypnow, but this spell came naturally to her.
Wisps of ethereal white light left her mouth with the words, twisting and turning in the air like it was induced in some foreign Waltz, after a moment, the strings wrapped around the three in a halo, before disapatating in the air.
Amazed, Lucas struggled to get out a word, he managed it of course, "what was that? What did it do?"
Adara fought to suppress a smirk, obviously proud of her spell, despite the stress she demonstrated earlier, "it's a specialty of mine, I actually made it myself, it creates an invisible bubble around us, no one can hear nor see us,"
And just in time to, as a hulking figure emerged from the opposing woods on the other side of the path, a wendigo, it's grey skin stretched across the lanky limbs that awquadly came out of its thin torso, the heavy black antlers on its head had been damaged, with a large piece of the right one being broken off.
Lucas paled, his instincts doubting the effectiveness of the spell, Adara however, remained much more calm, familiar with the effects demonstrated from her spell. That was until, the monster sniffed.
Her heart freezing in place, Adara quickly tried to cast a spell to hide their scent, but alas, it was already too late, the creature lunges forwards, it's black nails tearing through the location that Adaras head had just been, if not for her instincts to roll aside.
Now out of the bubble, and separated from it's hiding effects, the wendigo chose her as it's primary target, dismissing the smell of Lucas and the horse.
Adara sprang to her feet, her mind racing as she faced the relentless advance of the wendigo. She glanced at Lucas, urgency in her voice. "Stay back, and whatever you do, don't make a sound!"
The wendigo, now fixated on Adara, snarled, its cold, malevolent eyes locking onto her. With precision born from years of combat, Adara swiftly drew her bone dagger, its runes flickering to life as she prepared to defend herself against the ferocious creature.
The wendigo kept forwards, attempting to use it's long fingers to grab Adara, already moving before it's jump, Adara was able to avoid it, retreating back into the path.
The wendigo lunged again, its claws slashing through the air with terrifying speed. Adara dodged to the side this time, narrowly preventing the razor-sharp claws that grazed her side from turning into a serious wound, leaving a trail of blood in their wake. She winced but didn't let the pain slow her down.
Gathering her focus amidst the chaos, Adara chanted a spell, her voice steady despite the adrenaline coursing through her veins. A surge of raw energy flowed from her voice, weaving into a complex pattern of runes in the air. As the runes began to form, they emitted a faint glow, creating a barrier between her and the relentless creature.
Barely in time to, as the creature had once again attempted to rip out Adaras throat, it yelled in pain as it withdrew from the barrier of pure magic energy, which had scorched it's hand.
"ut lux manu mea..." Muttered Adara, casting a complicated spell like this required a clear mind, which Adara struggled to keep, luckily her connection with Hypnos kept her in a complete sense of serenity.
Wisps of light appeared around the wendigo, forming a needle, it was plunged into the wendigo forehead, stopping in it's tracks completely, the wendigo fell to both knees, seemingly knocked out.
The runes in her bone dagger lit up, almost like it was eager to draw blood, and following the blade imstructions Adara plunged it into the monsters chest like a knife through butter.