Writing Prompt: The magic they taught was meant to be forgotten long ago.

The power swirled within his mind’s eye. A hurricane of force spinning faster and faster as he continued to feed it. He had never felt so much power in his life. All the magic his village possessed wouldn’t hold a candle beside the incredible power building before him. And it was all his.

A faint whisper, deep in the recesses of his mind, sought to be heard over the vortex of spinning power. This was too much power, he should let it go, allow it to fade away back to where it came from. He shut the voice away. All his life he had been so insignificant, so worthless. His coworkers, friends, even his own family, had turned away from him and left him to die.

Somehow, he had found the strength to drag himself to safety near a small stream. For days he laid in the shade of the trees, his only movement when he crawled to the water’s edge to drink, and back to the shade.

Once his body had healed enough, he turned east and didn’t stop until he collapsed. He had been saved by the man who stood behind him. 

He owed him his life, and he would do, and was doing, whatever was asked of him. 

“Faster,” his master commanded over his shoulder. Dathen didn’t dare look behind him, his entire concentration was focused on the building magic before him. While the magic was invisible to the naked eye, it loomed large before him. The edges of his cloak began to pull towards the center and leaves picked up and floated into the sky.

A small speck of light formed at the center of the whirling magic. The bead grew as he gathered more magic, forcing it to spin faster. When the ball of light was the size of his fist he felt a subtle shift. 

“Now.” With that one word from his master, Dathen drew in his breath and felt all the magic drawn into the ball of light. All at once, it expanded, larger than his head. With a tremendous effort he pushed out with his hands. The magic resisted, fighting the movement. 

Dathen screamed, and pushed with everything he had. The ball flew through the forest as if launched from a canon. It smashed through trees, destroying everything in its path. Dathen heard the destruction continue long after the ball was out of site. After several seconds he couldn’t even hear the damage. A minute past, and then he heard it. A crack like thunder sounded off in the distance. A wave of energy crashed into him, almost knocking him on his backside, but he managed to stay on his feet just barely. Even his master took a step back to keep his balance. 

All around them grass lay flattened, and leaves fluttered in the wind, most of the trees stripped down to bear limbs. 

When he had launched the spell, he hadn’t really known what would happen. He had hoped, he had believed what his master had told him would happen, but he hadn’t known. But at last, after all these years, they were gone. Every last person that had turned their back on him was dead.

Dathen smiled.

Header Artwork by: DiZa-74