Chapter 3: Cobalt

Wind rushed past Cobalt's face as he screamed, plummeting from the highest point of the whole world. His breath gave out after the first few moments and he could see the ground below getting larger and more defined - green blobs became clusters of trees. The blue lines became rushing rivers.

"Come on!" he shouted out, "Do something!" He flexed his whole body, tried to rifle through every concentration technique at his disposal, mimicked The Magister's movements with his arms - and nothing happened.

He closed his eyes as the ground rushed up towards him, waiting for the inevitable as his life flashed in front of him.

His sister, sweet and caring.

His mother and her sweet smile.

His brother’s laugh.

Fleeing his childhood home and forced into the wilderness. Hearing about The Magister for the first time and venturing to find him - a multi-year journey of pain and hardship.

Finding hope at the estate, and years of effort souring into dismay and rage.

"Screw you!" He screamed upwards, unsure but uncaring if The Magister could hear him or not. This is all your fault! he thought, his anger at his hopelessness, his failure, and his inability to awaken his magic roiling through him in a cascading torrent.

He felt more anger than he ever had before in his life, screaming his rage at how his life was ending into the surrounding skies. "Damn the world! Damn my life! Damn the gods for cursing me!" He turned towards the ground and waited for the inevitable, closing his eyes to prepare for what he could not escape.

CRUNCH.

Agony.

Nothing.

>>>---<<<

A black fog exploded across the valley floor, washing over the broken and shattered body in this small dell of the Scorch Wood; the remains of Cobalt's scattered corpse. The fog coalesced into a wraith-like entity; vaguely human shaped. Deep, blue orbs coalesced where a head would be as eyes opened, staring at The Magister who floated down from above.

“Hiding inside a cursed to stay unnoticed, eh? Well, this is the end for you.” The Magister held up his hands and clasped them together in an odd cage-formation; purple energy exploding outwards and washing over the wraith.

The wraith laughed; a crackle of lightning mixed with the roar of the earth shearing open - primal sounds of nature's wrath.

What was a mage such as this compared to the fury of ages, a fury that has existed since free-will?

The one thing it cared about was making this old man pay.

Pay for everything unjust in the world.

Pay for Cobalt's mother's death.

Pay for his exile.

Pay for his hardships and inability to awaken his magic.

The wraith was driven onward at the suffering of its once-host.

“That’s impossible! Unless- no! You can’t be! A pure manifestation!?” The Magister turned to run but the wraith reached out and grabbed his arm, yanking the old man and gripping his face between two floating appendages.

Die! was the one thought that resonated into the surrounding environment, vibrating through the air with a thrum. The Magister's face exploded, his head crushed into a mush.

The wraith dropped the corpse as it decayed into dust. It looked around at the exploded corpse of the beast-cursed it once possessed. One more thought resonated into the air.

Return.

The wraith descended to the valley floor and became a fog once more, soaking into the bits and pieces of Cobalt's corpse.

>>>---<<<

Cobalt sucked in air as he sat up stiffly, fully coming to consciousness. Did…what just happened? he thought. The robes of The Magister were strewn in front of him, and as he looked around he could see a small crater behind him.

"I fell," he whispered as he looked down at his body. "How in the abyss am I alive?" he said out loud, looking at the robes. He saw a glimmer of light. Pushing the robes aside he found a clear, multi-colored gemstone.

He instinctively picked up the apple-sized gem and held it tight in his hand; the surface tingling just as if his hand had fallen asleep. Did The Magister fall, too? Why isn’t there a body?

He heard a loud creaking sound from above - the clash of rock against rock as his gaze was drawn to it. "Shit! The tower!"

Cobalt looked up and saw far, far off in the distance, the tall tower extending into the sky slowly collapsing as it began to fall towards him. Cobalt stood and ran as far and as fast as he could to avoid anywhere close to where those enormous rings would land. Something was off, though. The smell hit him at first; he could smell the decaying trees around him with crystal clarity. The air had a taste to it.

Why can I smell it all so clearly? He could even see small wisps of air surrounding him - various colors that he instinctively knew represented the trace minerals carried aloft. He was always a very good sniffer - his curse manifest. This is more acute than ever before. What is going on?

As he ran, he felt light - as if the weight of the world had left him and not even the ground could hold him back. He jumped over a small tree and yelped in sudden shock as he found himself floating during the apex of his jump. He wheeled his arms backward and came to a stop, hovering in the air.

I awoke my magic? he thought. Grinning, he reached out an arm and gestured as The Magister had done, willing the magic forth to explode outward from him. A scything blade of air blasted outwards and carved a gash across the landscape, several hundred feet long and quite deep.

Air magic? Cobalt was excited. Air magic was one of the six prime elements, and if that was all he could use, then he would be quite powerful…if somewhat limited in his versatility. I'll need to experiment more.

He did mentally chide himself - as soon as his perception of the air around him had changed, he should have known. When one was attuned to an element, they could feel whatever was composed of it with more potency.

He willed himself upward and felt the air below him respond, lifting him up until he was floating above the Scorch Wood. Glancing back, he saw the chunks of the tower still falling from their prodigious height. Air magic explains how I didn't die. My innate ability must have cushioned my fall.

He nodded his head as he willed himself to continue forward and the air under him responded to his command, speeding him above the pointed tree-tops of the woods. He glanced down as he flew, smiling at the sensation of near-weightlessness. Cobalt smiled the largest smile in his life.

Finally, after years of torment and suffering…something amazing had finally happened. He didn’t feel afraid of heights anymore - who would when they could control the very air keeping them aloft? Still, a small itch was in the back of his mind. What happened to The Magister? Should I go back? He looked back once more and saw no trace of the tower in the distance. No. That chapter of my life is behind me.

Let's keep experimenting, Cobalt thought as he willed himself to stop and hover in mid-air. He pointed at a section of the ground below; a clearing in the trees, and moved his hand in a circle. The air beckoned to his call and within seconds a swirling vortex appeared.

He grinned and focused on increasing the size of the tornado; right up to the edges of the clearing. Faster, and faster, and faster. A swirling wind of destruction and devastation if it was tearing across the countryside - but Cobalt held it still in that small clearing. Then, a tiredness washed over him. The price of magic, he thought as he recalled one of The Magister's infrequent teachings. The lesson resonated through Cobalt's mind as he released the magic and the tornado ceased to exist. He gently lowered himself to the ground and set foot on the soft soil.

Only then did he grunt in dismay and realize his clothes were shredded; revealing his lean and waifish body. It will get cold when night falls, was the lingering thought that echoed through his head. He found a nearby log and sat down on it, pondering what to do next.

I can't go back to the estate. I can't go back to my homeland. He felt his eyelids flutter and stood up to prevent himself from falling asleep.

A crack sounded behind him and he wheeled around, raising his hand prepared to blast whatever it was. He was quite shocked at what he saw - a woman whose arms and legs were covered with red scales; hands and feet tipped with wicked, black claws that burned into the ground under her. Her head was covered in a mane of red hair - the same hue as the scales.

Cobalt slowly lowered his hand, "Who are you, and what do you want?"

The young woman was laden with packs of supplies that Cobalt eyed closely. She put a clawed hand on a nearby tree. The claws left wicked gashes that immediately lit a flame within the bark. "You're a beast-cursed?" Her voice was soft, surprised, and slightly relieved. Cobalt nodded and she continued, "I'm like you-"

"I can see that," Cobalt interrupted. “You’re lighting that tree on fire, if you didn’t notice.” He glanced at her footprints in the soil, “And charring the ground.”

She shook her head and took a few paces toward him, "You have to help me! I'm being chased."

Cobalt raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, "By who?"

She took a few more steps forward until there was only an arm's reach between them, "People from my home town. They're hunting me."

"Salamander."

"What?"

"Your beast. You're cursed to be like the Salamander. An ancient, fire-dwelling monster that lives in volcanic regions. The Scorch Wood used to be one of those, you know, centuries ago." Cobalt smirked as his years of reading books in the acolyte’s quarter finally paid off.

She shook her head, "That doesn't help me!"

Cobalt sighed, grinning internally at a chance to use his new powers. And even better - he would get to punish those who were hunting a beast-cursed being run out of town…just like himself when he was younger. A sense of dedication entered his thoughts. I could bring her with me…wherever I end up going. She has supplies I could use. He knew how lonely being beast-cursed could be.

"Alright. What's your name?"

"Liadrin."

"I'm Cobalt. Get behind me." Cobalt gestured and Liadrin complied, moving behind him as he held up a hand. He focused his attention on the direction that she had come from, squinting his eyes against the light.

The fading sun glinted off of some metal helmets through the trees. He smiled and focused on obliterating everything in front of him. Responding to his call, the air coalesced in his palm before exploding outward; shredding everything.

Trees, animals, dirt, people. Nothing was left as the hardened, sharp blade of wind blasted across the land in an enormous cone stretching easily a mile out in front of him. Naught was left but blood splatters, eviscerated wood, and churned dirt.

Liadrin gasped behind him and grabbed his shoulder, "You're a mage?"

Cobalt turned to her and was about to speak, but he felt a wave of lethargy sweep over him. He slumped down towards the ground, falling asleep despite his best efforts to remain awake.

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