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Chapter 48: An Attempt

"My name is Asher Morgan." The blonde magic user spoke. His bright green eyes were focused on me, despite Erik\'s clear position of leadership. "She\'s-"

"I\'m Astrid." The black-haired woman said with a cold voice. "And that\'s all you need to know about me." She glared at us, one by one. Hostility was practically dripping from her gaze. Erik seemed like he wanted to push her for more information, but Alina stopped him.

"Why were you spying on us?" She asked, responding to Astrid\'s glare with her own. The two women remained locked in that staring contest for a while. I sighed and glanced at Asher.

"Would you mind answering?" I asked him. As soon as he met my gaze, he flinched and looked away.

"We were hired by someone." He said after a moment\'s hesitation. "They wanted us to find and observe the ones that killed the Cursed Lion and the Terror of Stonepatch Village." He glanced at Erik and the others. "It\'s well known that the paladin\'s group is the only group large enough to pull off such feats."

"Right..." I mumbled as Erik seemed somewhat unsure of what to do. "Uh, so who hired you?" I finally asked.

"I don\'t know their name." Asher said with a shrug. "All I know is-"

"Shut up already!" Astrid shouted at him. She sprung to her feet and with clenched fists, continued to shout. "What is wrong with you?"

"Hey," Vincent approached her with a threatening demeanour. "Listen, you-"

"No!" She shouted. "I\'ve had enough of this!" A dagger appeared in her hand as she lunged towards Vincent. The young man stumbled backwards as the sharp blade of her dagger shot towards his neck. She was aiming to kill.

"Enough!" Rina\'s voice sounded as Astrid\'s blade bounced off a pale blue shielding spell that appeared around Vincent. The short, petite wizard whispered something as distant thunder echoed. Astrid stepped back cautiously as Vincent finally regained his balance. Erik dashed towards the black-haired girl, immediately followed by Joshua and Samantha.

Lightning strikes hit the ground not too far from us. I glanced at Rina and flinched as fear gripped my throat. She was floating right above the ground, pale blue lightning danced on her green hair. Her previously brown eyes shone a bright blue, much like the lighting she summoned.

"The hell!" Astrid shouted as she bolted towards the woods. As the group, including Samantha and Alina ran after her, my gaze met Asher\'s just as he was about to get up.

"Are you going to try and escape?" I asked calmly as my scythe materialized in my hands. I gripped the cold, dark, metal shaft.

"Would you blame me?" He asked with a shrug.

A smile flashed across my face. "No, not really."

"Well then,"

We stared at each other for a moment in the now empty campsite. Distant thunder echoed.

He whispered something. As soon as I felt magic whirl around us, I shot towards him. As I closed the distance between us, a strong wind flung me all the way back to the treeline. I hit the moss-covered ground with a pained moan and forced myself to get up again.

As I looked towards my opponent again, dread filled my mind. He was casting another spell. I considered using Dark Bolt, but I decided against it – I didn\'t want to accidentally kill another human. Instead, I once again rushed towards him. To my surprise, he didn\'t hit me with another spell. Instead, his magic enveloped him and lifted him off the ground.

"Sorry!" He shouted as his spell carried him off to the distance. "Hell no, you don\'t!" I hissed as I summoned my wings. I had already started running towards the treeline as two massive wings sprouted on my back. With a powerful beat of my wings, I lifted myself off the ground. I just barely avoided the upper branches of the trees as I began my pursuit.

He wasn\'t too far away, though unlike me, he could fly for longer. I wasn\'t fast enough to catch up to him and I was already feeling the strain my effort put on my muscles. He could fly for as long as he had mana and being a magic user, he surely had plenty of it.

I clenched my teeth and used Fallen Grace. I had avoided using it as I flew because I didn\'t want to push my body too far beyond it\'s limits. The embers on the end of my feathers flared up as my speed increased. I glanced back, only to see a trail of fire behind me. Strength filled my muscles and the feeling of exhausted disappeared.

I quickly closed the distance between us. As I drew closer, he flinched and turned back – he\'d only now noticed me. "What the hell, you can fly this fast?" He shouted in a panic as his face turned pale. I felt magic gather at his palm as the winds around us changed. He was trying to slow me down.

A sudden chill washed over me as I felt the effects of Fallen Grace disappear. At the same time, Asher\'s spell also disappeared and the magic gathering in his palm vanished. He started falling to the green forest below us. I clenched my teeth and, with a few powerful beats of my wings, reached him. He grabbed onto me as I just barely caught him. The added weight of carrying another person finally caused my muscles to give out.

We plummeted to the ground below – again. We were too far up this time, even I wouldn\'t survive this fall without serious injuries. I felt him gripping my shoulders. "You\'re insane!" He screamed. Only then did I realise, he couldn\'t cast any spells for some reason.

A thought gnawed at the back of my mind. It made no sense for Fallen Grace to end. It usually lasted for a much longer time.

"Do something!" His scream pulled me away from my thoughts. I spread my wings wide. I couldn\'t fly us back, but I could slow our fall.

The pressure on my muscles was insane, it felt as if someone was trying to pluck my wings off. With a pained cry, I managed to finally align myself properly and with a rather steep angle we glided towards the nearest body of water – a shallow but wide river.

We fell into the water with a splash. I felt something crack as my consciousness began to fade. The cold water wasn\'t enough to keep me awake as the stream started to carry me away. I heard someone shout before water covered my head. Something pulled my left wing as darkness engulfed me.