Chapter 2: Off We Go, Into the Wild Blue Yonder
"Wake up! Wake up! It's almost time for you to go!" Asa's sister was bouncing on his back, trying to wake him up.
"I'm up, I'm up." Asa mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and looking out the window. The sun was up, and the birds were singing. Asa's sister ran out of the room, giggling. Asa swung his legs over the bed, got dressed, and grabbed his stuff. He ran down stairs, by this time fully awake. He greeted his mother with a leaping hug. He ate a quick breakfast, and then walked to the edge of the village. There, he met up with Kyre and Gale. The Elder then administered a blessing, wishing them luck and freedom from harm. And with that, they went on their way. As the village shrank in the distance, Asa felt tears welling up in his eyes. He was excited to be part of the caravan, but it still hurt to leave his family. He quickly rubbed them away.
Some time later, they decided the first place they would go to. It was called River Belle Path. They would search for the Myrrh Tree there, and collect it's Myrrh. When they neared River Belle, Gale brought out the crystal chalice, a device that kept the deadly miasama at bay, and it was also the container that would used to collect the myrrh. By that time, Gale and Asa had been talking a lot, but Kyre and Asa had barely said a word to each other. Asa learned that Gale was 17 and Kyre as 18. Asa unslung his Aura racquet as they approached River Belle. Asa jumped out of the cart, with his weapon in his right hand, and the chalice under his left arm. Gale and Kyre had him carry it, because they both had to carry both a sword and a shield.
They had been walking for awhile, and had yet to see a single monster. Then as they rounded on of River Belle's many corners, they came upon a goblin. Kyre made like he was going to charge it, but Asa stopped him.
"What are you doing?" Kyre whispered.
"Just watch." Replied Asa. He set down the chalice, and gripped his weapon with both hands. He focused all the energy he could in the crystal, which began to glow a dark purple. Then when he could focus anymore, he pointed the racquet at the goblin, and released the energy burst. It flew from the crystal end, a brilliant dark purple and blue orb. It hit the goblin square in the back, sending it flying. Asa turned to Kyre, gave him a smirk, and walked over the goblin to make sure it was dead. "It's dead!" Asa shouted back. No sonner than when he finished speaking the words, both Gale and Kyre shouted "Look out!" Asa turned around and just barely managed to parry an attack from a second goblin. Before he was able to counter attack, the goblin grabbed him by the throat, and tossed him out side the protective radius of the chalice. He landed hard on his stomach. The wind was knocked out of him, and he started gasping for air. But every gasp he took seared his lungs. His vision blurred, and he heard voices calling him, from far off.
"Asa!" Gale shouted, dropping her shield and scoping up the chalice. She charged the goblin, and ran him through. She ran over to Asa, and dropped the chalice. His pupils where completely dilated, he was sweating profusely, and heaving for breath. She took out her water skin, and poured some water into his mouth. Gradually, Asa's breath began to even out, and his pupils returned to their normal size.
"Is he okay?" Kyre asked, running over.
"I think he will be, I'll just to cure him." Gale closed her eyes, and placed her hands on Asa's chest. She muttered a few words, and a turquoise glow emitted from her hands. Asa coughed a few times, blinked, and sat up.
"How are you feeling?" Gale asked.
"Like I've just been run over by an ox." Asa replied, smiling at her.
"Can you stand?" Kyre asked.
"Yeah," Asa replied getting shakily to his feet "let's go." They continued down until they came to a nest of hedgehogs. Asa still wasn't feeling top notch, so he let Gale and Kyre take care them. They made short work of the hedgehogs with their razor sharp swords. A short time later, they came upon a dead end. Directly in front of them was a waterfall and a small lake. Off to the left was a small alcove, in which stood the myrrh tree.
"Lets go." Said Kyre, as he started to walk toward the tree.
"Hold on a second." Asa replied. He walked over the lake and knelt down to take a drink. The water the cool and crisp, and invigorated his senses.
"Come on, Asa!" Gale shouted.
"Coming!" Asa started to run toward Gale and Kyre. Just as they started to near the myrrh tree, the ground began to shake. They looked behind them, just in time a giant crab catapult from behind the waterfall.
"Looks like we'll have to take care of this guy before we get the myrrh," grumbled Asa.
"Right." replied Gale and Kyre.
"Do you guys know the firaga spell?" Asa asked them.
"Yeah."
"Then lets do this."
They moved into positions around the crab. The crab eyed them warily, not sure what to think about these intruders. The trio began to charge the spell. Asa could fell the power flow through him. His skin began to craw, and he felt pinpricks on his body. "NOW!" Asa yelled, "FIRAGA!" the trio screamed in unison. The air around the crab exploded with enough force to knock Kyre off his feet. This was enough to motivate the crab into action. Since Kyre was the closest to it, the crab charged him. Kyre tried to get to his feed and run, but Asa saw he wasn't going to make it. Asa hurled the chalice at Gale, and ran toward Kyre. The crab wound up it's claw, and was just about to backhand Kyre, when Asa made a flying leap, shoving Kyre out of the way. The blunt end of the claw impacted Asa right in his midsection. Asa felt his ribs break, and he went flying across the ground. He smashed his head on a rock, and just lay there. His vison blurred, he tasted copper in his mouth, and the felt something warm and sticky flowing down his face and the back of his ead. He saw Gale and Kyre continue battle the crab. So this is how it ends, huh? He thought to himself. How pathetic, I couldn't even get one drop of myrrh. Asa started to loose consciousness, silently apologizing to his companions.