The Pathmaker by Caleb VanSteenwyk, Caleb VanSteenwyk (e textbook reader txt) 📕

wanted to be, right outside of the walls of the city. I wanted to be on the other side of the city from where the gate was, that way we wouldn’t be seen, and we would avoid a fight. I took an extra blade, and raised the blade to strike. Faintly, I could hear Damien back up from where I was about to slash. The blade came down with a whistle, followed by the sound of air splitting, like thunder. That made me jump back, and open my eyes. In front of me was a rip in the air, with edges of reality folding back like pages of paper. Inside this rip was a black expanse decorated with shining stars, and dotted with galaxies a million times larger than I was. Without question to how much sense this made, I walked inside the rip in the air in front of me.

My experience inside of the portal is one that is very hard to explain. I seemed to have lost all my position in both space in time. The space inside the portal was even emptier than a void. There was no longer any stars or galaxies to marvel at, there was just emptiness.

I have no idea how long I was in the portal because I had no perception of time while in the blade’s path. My existence was minimal, at nowhere in the universe in space or time. I then understood why Damien had called the blade the Pathmaker.

Soon, my reality came back to me, and I was thrown into the snow face-first, the crystal blade underneath me. The glowing light from the blade was easily visible through my closed eyes, and for a second I thought I was bleeding.

There were lots of gasps and screams as I came out of the portal. Soon after I hit the ground, Damien landed right next to me, but he landed on his feet. When I stood up, I realized the path had failed. I was out of the prison, but the path had led us into the center of the city, for everyone to see. The villager’s panicked screams would draw the city’s guards fast.

“You lost focus, didn’t you!” Screamed Damien.

“I didn’t!” I screamed, surprised.

“It doesn’t matter, we need to get out of here! They’ll be very furious now that we used the Pathmaker.” He screamed. Guards were already rushing towards us from all sides, spears in hand. The guards already outnumbered us by at least twenty.

“Throw me the Pathmaker!” Damien screamed in panic. I struggled to haul myself out of the snow, the Pathmaker in my hand. It was now back to its crystal form, and glowing that dark red still after its usage to make the portal. I was about to throw him the Pathmaker when a voice spoke in my head. NO! It screamed at me. The Pathmaker is MINE! MINE! The voice screamed. I was horrified to realize the voice inside my head was my own.

Fighting back instinct, I chucked the crystal over to Damien. As soon as he grabbed it, he expanded it back into sword form, and muttered a few unintelligible words that hurt my ears, making me wince. The words dripped with evil. The blade changed colors, and Damien was knocked back ten feet by some unseen force, right into a guard with a spear ready to swipe. He fell onto the ground, face first, and yelped. The guard raised the spear above him, ready to strike.

Without Damien visibly going through any effort, he rolled over and swung the now pitch black blade at the guard’s knees. As it swung, it began to glow black, and I glimpsed the stars and constellations dancing on the blade. When the Pathmaker hit the guard’s knees, the guard screamed and began to disintegrate into thin black mist, which disappeared into the air, until there was no evidence he was ever there.

So Damien had protection, I thought, but I’m still by myself. I grasped my belt and felt around for my dagger, but it wasn’t there. The guards must have taken it from me while I was unconscious. Guards were closing in on me fast, and I need protection. I doubted that they would be gentle if they got a hold of me. OK, so Damien said I had the mark of a natural magic user. Does that mean I can use it without an item of power? I wondered, doubting that my train of thought would get my anywhere, but it was all I had.

I thought of how I used the Pathmaker by thinking of where I wanted to go. So, I turned towards a guard that was charging at me with his spear, and held my hand out, pointed at the charging guard. I dug deep into my memories for the few times I had seen magic. Eventually, I focused on the time I had seen a magician play with a small ball of fire. I managed to catch some of the words he said, although I tried forgetting them. But magic words had their way of sticking in your mind, for each of them had their own power within them. He had said ‘Dancing Inferno Ignite’, before the small chain he had around his neck started glowing bright red. 

[CONTINUING CHAPTER SOON]

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Publication Date: 03-29-2013

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