Hiding behind a nearby hanging branch that was covered in long, sticky moss, Felix’s eyes were barely visible as he eyed the clearing before him where there was a great beast who lay fast asleep, breathing heavily. Sweat was inked within the creases of his forehead, anxious for the beast to wake. He’d placed a device near the beast that was ticking quietly. It was small and round, almost like a large button of a bigger device.
The beast stirred and Felix nearly jumped out of his boots. It rolled onto its side. He turned around slowly and crossed the path behind him, attempting to repress any noise. He retreated back to where the branch was and hid.
Suddenly, he heard the rustling of leaves to his right and appeared from behind a bush was a black wolf with a white strip stretching from the top of its head and down its back to its tail.
“Shh,” Felix whispered to the wolf as it came closer to him. The wolf simply ignored him and darted out into the clearing.
The beast’s eyes burst open and it roared at the wolf. The wolf sprang away, leaping into the trees to the left of where Felix was standing. Then the beast rolled over – onto the device. A giant net sprang from the button shaped device that Felix had left and wrapped itself around the beast.
As soon as he heard the Click! that came from the net snapping its corners together, Felix reached out his right hand and shouted “Incantus!” and he could suddenly and quite literally feel the air between him and the beast separate and the beast rose into the air high above the surrounding trees and stayed put there, hovering – seeming helpless.
…
“It’s been three days,” Master Mage Silvia said sounding both concerned and disappointed. “This test was for you to master and tame the beast within twenty-four hours. Not only did it take you thrice as long, but you never managed to actually tame the beast, only capture it.” Felix was silent.
“Now I’ve got a beast floating somewhere in the forest, it’s probably hungry and angry.” Silvia stood near the window in the Temple of Pyrus and gazed upon the sea that was the forest of trees in the horizon. She took a moment to think about what to say next. “You will reenter the forest. You will undo what you’ve done. And you will tame the beast as you’ve been trained to do. Do you understand?”
With a straight face, Felix responded, “Yes, master,” though he did feel a bit queasy inside at the thought of having to face that beast a second time around.
“Very well. You will return no later than this time tomorrow.”
Taming the strong beast didn’t seem to be of much importance to Felix, with the exception of Silvia’s request. He didn’t really understand, if he already knew how, why did he have to go out of his way to show it, especially if the person who sent him was the one who instructed him on how to perform this task. If he didn’t follow through with her quest, he might be hacked from the guild and the temple as a whole. Felix has failed to come forward with several completed quests in the months since his arrival. One more failed attempt and he may be gone for good.
Felix descended the spiral staircase at the end of the temple room where he and Master Silvia stood. Each step felt like a small stab in the neck at the thought of having to return to the beast. After hearing what he’d heard, the crushing and snapping from teeth chewing bone made him a little more than uneasy. The beast’s beady black eyes that hid behind its long fur were penetrating, and Felix wasn’t fond of being near things with hands half the size of him.
…
Silvia watched as her pupil walked across the lawn and towards the pathway that led to the forest beyond. She wondered if he was going to succeed this time around. She knew he was perfectly capable of completing the task but didn’t believe that he had the discipline. The spells she had trained him in he’d mastered within hours of learning them.
Silvia paced the circular room, thinking about if she had made the right decision to send Felix back out there. She wondered if it was indeed too dangerous for him and should have given him a much more mundane task. She wasn’t sure. She glanced over to the window just as Felix crossed the threshold of the forest wall. Concern started to show upon her features, and she began to regret her decision. She only hoped he now come back alive.
She muttered something inaudible and a few tiles from the ceiling vanished and a ladder that was made of oak dropped before her. There were vines that were carved beautifully into the side rails and the steps of the ladder. It was truly a work of art, she thought as she admired it for thousandth time. Silvia climbed the ladder and she emerged into her own personal study that was unknown to anyone but her.
It was another circular room, a bit smaller than the one below it. She had an elegant wooden desk against the wall with a chair that matched it and a velvet carpet that lay beneath them. Upon her desk, off to the left, lay a small book that read Spells of Pyrus. Next to the book there were a few sheets of parchment which were also near a feather pen leaning in its ink bottle. The walls of the room were covered in a red wallpaper with an intricate gold design. To the right of the desk was the window which gave her a direct view of the forest, and below it a picture frame that hung on the wall. It had a young girl and an older woman standing next to her, both were smiling back at Silvia.
“Master Silvia!” a voice was calling her name. It came from downstairs, and it wasn’t Felix’s.
T.P. Lanzarotto 