Magic book/tome ^

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The acrid stench of smoke was what eventually awoke Mikyla. It's pungent odour forced her awake, the black tendrils like needles stabbing her into consciousness. As awareness flooded her body, the familiar heat and searing pain brought her to her feet. She hugged herself against the rock face willing the portal to open somehow but the burning rock was more of a deterrent than a comfort.

A sudden gust of wind found Mikyla scrambling to her feet as she painted the rock dirty red with scrapes and cuts. It was too sheer to climb and even if she tried she couldn't. She couldn't leave Sam behind.

Mikyla cursed herself for her compassion. If she couldn't allow a Noble to die of relatively natural causes how could she bring herself to fully condemn them?

He was a lot heavier than he looked, that was for sure. Even just dragging him caused sweat to drip from her in overdrive, the droplets almost boiling off rather than evaporating. There was only so much she could drag him though. She could only delay the inevitable as the fire inched closer and closer, leering at its prey. If she stood on his shoulders would she be able to get a proper footing on the rock face? She's have to try- she could always find a vine at the top and drop it down for him later. That was if she could find one. That was if she could get a footing.

Slumping Sam's singed body against the rock face, she gingerly placed one foot over one shoulder. To be honest she didn't know how much she weighed either and it wouldn't be ideal if she broke a shoulder... for her sake obviously. If Sam was woken up to a broken shoulder he'd probably spasm in response causing Mikyla to be thrown off out of the frying pan and into the literal fire. She'd have to be careful. For her sake.

Applying pressure on the one foot, she carefully watched for any signs of pain as she shifted her full weight onto it. Sam gruntled in mild discomfort but when he stilled once more Mikyla placed the other foot on his other shoulder.

The height advantage made some difference but not the amount Mikyla had hoped for. There was a jagged rock perfect for grabbling onto but even with the added boost, it was a few centimetres away. If only Sam could stand up to give her a boost...

Another gust of wind promptly blows Mikyla over and she is fed a mouthful of fire. Spluttering, Mikyla withdraws before any damage is done and wipes the first layer of soot from her face. Her skin is raw but otherwise undamaged. The fire had crept closer but Mikyla estimated she still had a few minutes left before the smoke choked her again. This would be her final chance. She would have to jump from Sam's shoulders.

Clambering on top of the unconcious Noble once more, Mikyla licked her chapped lips, the hot dryness of the air almost burning her tongue. This was her final chance. Bending her knees she fixed her eyes on the rocky ledge before pouncing. Her fingers brushed the rock but another onset of wind threw her towards the ground. She braced for impact as the wind was knocked out of her. She was too bruised to move and too tired to care. She welcomed the pain for it numbed the guilt of failure. She stared into the black abyss pillowing towards the sky and awaited unconsciousness to befall her.

Wait.

The wind was constantly bombarding her from all directions yet the plumes of smoke had yet to alter their course. This wasn't real.

Mikyla felt a laugh erupt from her throat as the warm sensation of the fire escaped her body. It wasn't real. She could wade through the fire and feel nothing. The air was cool and fresh and as she concentrated on herself, the crackles of flames eventually died into silence and ultimately faded from existence. Another gust of wind tore through the air but Mikyla just laughed- that was until she was knocked to the ground.

Strange.

Mikyla waited and yet another gust of wind applied as much pressure as a real one. She watched as the gale raced through the fire and like static the fire vanished. So did the smoke. So did the rock face. Everything vanished except for the grass, now unburnt, Sam and herself. From what Mikyla could see, she was sitting upright in a field and the only thing for miles around was grass, grass and more grass as well as some rather large flying insect heading straight towards her.

Jumping to her feet, Mikyla braced herself but the flying insect stopped abruptly just before her. Accompanying it as another invisible attack of wind knocking to the ground again.

"I believe this is yours?"

A soft voice whistled within Mikyla's ear, a gentle tone much like the notes of a grass flute. Amazingly, the mellow timbre seemed to come from the flying insect; an insect with the wings of a gilded butterfly, the gown of a queen and a complexion of an elven goddesses. The insect was no insect at all, instead it was the stuff of legend- a fairy.

The fairy's sudden appearance wasn't Mikyla's main point of awe, however, instead it was the object materializing before her.

A mini cyclone of white leaves fluttered before Mikyla, a swirling vortex of blank nothingness. As soon as the thought crossed Mikyla's mind, an army of ants apparated onto the alabaster flakes, painting them with black scrawls, imbuing them with a strong energy. The pages grew infinitely closer as they converged to a single point until eventually they bonded together into something Mikyla feared she had lost forever. The spiral of nothing had transformed into the very magic book she had lost to the fire.

"Well? It is yours isn't it?"

The fairy spoke again, it's voice the calming breeze itself.

Mikyla merely nodded, clearly dumbstruck from the sudden turn of events.

"Are you going to take it then? Levitating objects isn't the easiest thing to do..."

Mikyla blinked before realization swept across her face. "Sure. Sure. Umm... if I may ask... who are you exac-"

"It was the wind, wasn't it?" The fairy cut Mikyla off as soon as she regained the magic book. "I try to get the hallucinations as perfect as possible but the wind here is too strong to completely block out!"

"Wait! What?" Mikyla's mind filled with confusion albeit being thoroughly battered by wind from all direction. "Hallucinations? Have we been stuck in a giant hallucination? Is that why Sam hasn't woken up yet?"

Mikyla's eyes slowly drifted towards the dozing Noble beside her. She had barely noticed him earlier and now, when she could hear it over the roaring wind, his intermittent snoring was starting to get on her nerves. Nevertheless, having scarcely escaped being burned alive, meeting a mythical creature and not even being sure as to whether she is/was/will be stuck in a hallucination has really taken its toll and if she had to get answers from a mysterious entity... well... so be it.

"Probably because he doesn't want to... " The fairy starts slowly, ignoring all prior questions except for the one last expressed. "You see not all hallucinations are the same. Some are nightmares and others are heavens. You seemed to be one of the lucky ones who ended up with a nightmare because that enabled you an incentive to get out."

"Lucky? You think being burned alive is lucky?" A tickle started to itch at the back of Mikyla's throat. Her head hurt and if she survived the conversation with the fairy before her she was sure she would go mad. "Do you really think reliving a near death experience is considered lucky?"

"Think about it," The fairy shrugged, completley oblivious to Mikyla's exasperation. "The best prisons are your own dreams. They trap you, narrowing your vision. It's complacency. You Elves are too focused on chasing your goals, your dreams that you let your emotions take over. You need to have a level head at all times otherwise you become a slave to your own desires."

"Stop- Stop-" Mikyla jabbed a finger in the fairy's direction. "Don't try to use logic on me. It won't work- I mean, it will but it won't-"

Mikyla stopped as she took a pause to literally scratch her head. Logic would work wouldn't it? It was essentially what ruled her life but nothing so far has been logical? Has it? Does that make sense? Does that make logic? Is it logical to be illogical or is it illogical to try to think logically?

The fairy merely watched Mikyla in an amuzed fashion. Crossing her lgs slowly in mid air she observed with fascination as Mikyla fought her inward battle until kuebiko finally took hold of her. Before long, Mikyla's chrysalism was completely shattered by another bout of summoned wind leaving her in a panting heap.

The fairy snapped a finger and the wind stopped leaving the air still. "Cool it."

When no response came from Mikyla, the fairy summoned another sudden blast of wind until Mikyla was spluttering under the pressure.

"You cool?" The fairy hovered over Mikyla as if inspecting any damage caused by the wind. She was a curious one, in more than one way.

"Yes." Came Mikyla's frazzled response. "Yes, I'm cool."

"Good." The fairy nodded happily. "Then how about this: I admire an inquisitive brain so we'll do a short exchange. You ask a question, I'll ask a question. Seem fair?"

"Yes." Mikyla nodded not knowing where this was all leading. There were so many question floating around in her mind but she had no idea what to choose. She wasn't foolish enough to waste a question asking what to ask, however, the genie situation did spring to mind. The thing was, she didn't know what to wish for either and besides... a fairy wasn't a genie.

"When will Sam wake up?" The question slipped out before Mikyla could properly think about it.

"Soon." The fairy responded quick enough to start her own question before Mikyla could retort. "Alright, that was easy enough. So how's the Treeman doing? You know, the talking tree?"

Talking tree? The words seemed familiar and when it finally clicked as to what the fairy was asking, Mikyla's face dropped.

"I'm sorry." Mikyla gulped. "He- He's dead-"

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Word Count for Chapter 17: 1757
Total Word Count: 26554

Authors Note:

Hope you liked the UNEDITED chapter 17! Don't forget to press on those magical stars to light up Mikyla's future path and leave a comment telling me what you like so far or what you don't like. Thanks for reading so far.

Happy reading
~ Dracollavenore