The Sage's Vow

10.1 || Relic Dagger

No, the barrier wasn't gone. Destroyed. Somehow, the primal had destroyed it.

That shouldn't be possible. Only a few weeks ago, Josh had seen a hoard of imps trying to escape one with no success. Could a primal be that much stronger?

Wait... Those ripples. They must have had something to do with it, but what had caused them?

His vision expanded, finally taking in the entire picture rather than only the primal's retreating back. Everything within him went cold.

It headed right for his old street.

He sprinted toward the river, assessing it for the shortest distance between the two ends as he did. By channeling energy into his legs, he could jump great distances. The river, though, proved too wide even for him in most places. He'd have to swim a few yards.

"Josh, wait!"

Footsteps pounded behind him, but Josh didn't slow down. "I need to catch that thing. We don't have time to just stop and wait."

Kaitlyn grumbled something that he didn't catch, but he was sure it wasn't flattery. "That's not what I meant. Let me catch up so I can get us over the river faster."

Surprise made him falter more than a conscious choice to slow down. It still gave Kaitlyn enough time to reach his side. She held a hand out in front of them, slightly slowing their pace. Despite the urgency flooding him, he matched her.

Her brows furrowed together. "Nivarus praetimus."

Somehow in his almost year with the Paladins, he hadn't yet seen a Sage cast magic. He watched her hands, expecting something to come from it like a blast of energy. The hill dipped as they came to the river's edge, and he jerked his attention forward. There, he found his answer.

A sheet of pure, pale-purple energy lay over the water's surface. Hoping he understood Kaitlyn's spell right, he hopped the rest of the way down the slope, not releasing his breath until his feet touched the energy's thankfully solid form.

They reached the other side of the river, the only water hitting them coming from the sky. Kaitlyn let out a harsh gasp and stumbled, but she waved Josh away when he tried to help.

"I'm fine. It is just a hard spell to hold." She peered into the sky, deep lines of frustration forming around her lips when her gaze paused on the primal. "Nobody knows how the primal broke through. They felt some sort of interference with their hold on the barrier, and then it just..."

She didn't finish, which was for the best because Josh wouldn't have heard her. His heart beat loudly in his ears as the primal continued its flight, a horrible feeling settling into his very soul.

The primal followed a very familiar path, but no, it couldn't be the one Josh thought. The monster had no reason to head there of all places. But then why wasn't it taking a straight path?

Boomer's presence pressed forward, as curious and confused as Josh. Isn't that...?

Gulping, he looked forward. They cleared the long backyard of the house closest to the river and exploded onto his old street.

Across from them was a mostly empty plot of land. Someone had tended to the lawn, and the pavement had been re-done recently because the long crack he'd seen for most of his childhood was gone. A sign designated the plot as for-sale.

Josh's heart lurched painfully in his chest. In his mind's eye, he saw the two-story, beige house that had stood there, its large porch reaching two-thirds of its length. A place where he'd spent most of his life, gone now because of the supernatural flames of a Shadow Knight.