Chapter 3: A Cabin and A Mage
Maria wandered through the small patch of woods swiftly until she came to a dirt road. The dirt road was about a half mile long, and far off in the distance was a mysterious, dark brown log cabin. Maria hiked up the trail in a sprint, until she ran into a small, green goblin looking creature. She stood there staring at it questionably. Suddenly the goblin jumped toward her holding a dagger in attack position, aimed directly for Maria's pendant. Maria twirled out of the way barely dodging the sharp dagger. The goblin spun around and charged again. This time Maria drew her shiny sword, using it for the first time.
When the goblin came close enough Maria ducked under the goblin and sliced it from underneath. Blood was now running at the end of her new sword. The goblin slammed into the ground. With the goblin showing no sign of life, Maria sighed and kept walking, placing her newly stained sword in her sword's holder. She was proud of her first, but effortless, victory.
The princess let out a sigh of relief as she reached the cabin door. She crept swiftly and quietly inside, calling out to see if anyone was in there. There was no reply. Maria looked through many things the cabin contained. A neatly laid out bed, barely used candles on the windowsill, and a polished oak red desk and chair. It was quite obvious that someone occupied this cabin. Piled on top of the desk were books, not just any ordinary books, but magic books. Maria picked up the blue velvet book from the top of the pile curiously, which was entitled The Usefulness of the Dark Magic. 'Magic exists here? Impossible.' She thought with great puzzlement.
As she was flipping through the pages, suddenly the cabin door flung open. A tall, mysterious figure had entered. The figure was wearing a blue cloak with a hood, hiding the face of this person. "Who the hell are you!? And what are you doing here!?" screamed an angry, manly voice.
Maria tripped and fell in shock, dropping the book. She quickly got back to her feet. "I.I.was just.just looking around and.and stumbled into this.uh.cabin. I thought no one lived here so I.came to look around." She stuttered with a quivering voice, backing into a corner.
"You do not belong here! Now die and be done with!" the mage yelled.
"WHAT? You're going to kill me because I entered your cabin! What kind of a person are you? Show your face!" Maria screamed as bravely as she could.
"Humph!" the mage let out as he removed his hood. Long blue hair fell out of the hood, reaching down towards his mid-back. Gorgeous blue and sparkling eyes glared angrily at Maria's face. Maria froze as she stared at this handsome figure.
"Why would you want to kill me so fast?" Maria asked questionably.
"Let's just say I'm not the friendly type. Now let me ask a question.why do you ask so many damn questions!?" the mage said angrily, now drawing out his weapon, the heavily blood stained scythe. Maria pulled out her sword and shakily pointed it towards the mage, not sure of what she wanted to do. As soon as she drew her sword, the mage charged at her at full speed with the scythe at hand. Maria had no way to dodge, so she threw up her sword against the scythe, which stalled for a very short amount of time.
Maria screamed. The mages strength and power overcame hers and she fell helplessly to the floor, her sword flying across the floor. She was now weaponless. The mage went in for the kill, but Maria rolled out of the way, with the edge of the scythe's blade barely a centimeter away from her neck. The mage grunted with disbelief as he withdrew the scythe to try again. At this point Maria dived quickly for her sword, but came two inches away from it and was pulled away. She heard a rip, and looked down at her lavender cloak. The scythe had the edge of her cloak pinned to the floor, and she could not move. The mage left the scythe there and lunged towards Maria and grabbed her neck. She had just barely wiggled out of her cloak, but was now in much deeper trouble. The mages cold hands were tightly wrapped around her neck and slowly tightening. Maria had to think quickly. She had come up with a good idea. Maria had kept her hands on his hands trying to remove them. Simultaneously, she kicked the mage with great force in the stomach. He groaned in pain and released Maria. She had dived straight for her sword.
Now, with sword in hand, she got up and stood in defense mode, which was quite foolish. The handsome mage already recovered with scythe in hand as well and shoved Maria on the bed, scythe centimeters away from her throat.
"Give me one good reason not to slit your throat." He said dangerously.
"Hmm.let me think.oh here's one!" Maria responded as she took her sword and lodged it in the mages leg.
"Yeeeaaaaaaooooowww!" the mage fell to the ground clutching his leg. Maria had gotten up from the bed and ran towards the door, sword in hand, though dripping with blood. "Not so fast, missy!" He screamed. Soon after he did a hasted chant and Maria was thrown against the opposite wall by an invisible force. She was floating three feet above ground and pinned against the wall. This one she couldn't escape. Maria had watched in amazement as the man did another chant and his wound in his leg was fully healed. With what looked like fire burning in his eyes, he once again reached for his scythe and charged at the helpless Maria. With all her might she had brought up her sword against the scythe. The two weapons clashed, with each person putting all their strength behind their weapons. With her sword still locked with the mage's scythe, she tried to spin and go for a low cut, but miserably failed. The blade of the scythe sliced across her shoulder as well as her stomach, drawing blood. Maria fell with a loud thud to the floor and cried in pain. She couldn't speak. The pain was unbearable. Her screams in agony did not seem to phase the mage. The young mage showed no sign of pity towards the young girl. As he was about to slice at Maria again he froze. His blue eyes focused on the pendant Maria had been wearing. The mage slowly put down his scythe and kneeled next to the wounded wanderer. He had started the healing chant he used on himself. Maria felt all the pain disappear from her body, along with the blood and scars. She looked up at him and slowly reached for her sword. The mage was too quick; he had pulled out a pocketknife and sliced at her arm. She clutched her wound with her other arm and tried to back away from the mage, but couldn't. He had already had his grip around both her arms. At last he spoke. "You are royal," he said coldly, "What is your name?" "Why should I tell you? After the way you treated me!" she spat. "You are going to tell me your name, unless you want to be killed on the spot." He threatened. That had scared Maria. "Princess.Maria Alexandra Leifoh Cortes," she said, trying eagerly to fight the pain in her arm, "what's yours?" "Magus." He stated. ".You said your name was.Maria?" "Yes." "Interesting." "What is it?" "Oh, its nothing, really.I.just used to go out with a girl named Maria.but that was three years ago." Magus said sadly as he got up. "But I couldn't get any closer to her, one because she was.uh.higher class than me, and two.she was killed.by a man who lives in Zanarkand.oh, let me help you with that wound." Magus placed his hand over Maria's cut and started a soft chant. Seconds later the wound was healed. All of the rips and tears in Maria's outfit were mended, looking as good as new. Somehow with that Maria's attitude had changed towards Magus. "Wow that was amazing.magic I'm guessing. Hey, why are you being so nice to me now?" Maria asked him suspiciously, checking her arm. "That pendant.it reminds me of so much.oh, uh.this is really none of your business. Never ask me that again." Magus answered. "Let me help you up." He said as he reached his hand towards Maria, and pulled her to standing position. "I.thank you-OOH!" Maria lost her balance and fell to the ground, pulling Magus along, landing on top of her. "Ouch!" she squeaked. Suddenly the cabin door opened. A familiar voice called out. "Maria? Are you in here? Oh there you are I-oh my gosh!" Raushanna screamed in shock. Mr. Piscura and Tidus rushed in. "What's the matt-whoa!" Mr. Piscura said in total surprise. "Hah! Look's like Maria's been busy!" Tidus joked. "Hey people it's not how it looks! Believe me! We just fell!" Maria explained, jolting to get to stand position. "Yea, okay Maria, falling doing what?" Tidus said evilly. Raushanna whacked him in the arm. "Uh.it's a long story. Trust me." Maria said calmly, ignoring Tidus' comment. "Psst.Maria, introduce this hottie to us!" Raushanna whispered in Maria's ear. "Oh, this is Magus, he lives in this cabin. Magus, these are my friends, Raushanna, Tidus, and Mr. Pisc-Cid." "Hello." Magus said as he got up, brushing off his cloak. The rest of the group greeted the young mage, though not as warmly as a normal greeting would be. "Man, you really need to tidy this place up if you want to impress anybody!" Tidus said to Magus, looking around at the cabin, chair overturned, books scattered, and bed totally unmade. Maria glared threateningly at Tidus. "Uh.I mean.well, now that we've found Maria, now in a cheerful mood, heh heh, let get our butts to Zanarkand!" "Where did you say you were going?" Magus asked. "Zanarkand." "Oh.um.if you like, I would gladly be your guide, I know where that place is pretty well, and can guarantee you the fastest route." Magus offered. "That would be wonderful, thank you. This map's a real pain in the ass to read anyway." Cid exclaimed. "But, under one condition. Hands off the lady Princess, you got that?" "Yeah! Don't go trying to claim the princess for yourself!" Raushanna backed Cid. "Sure, whatever. I agree." Magus said, "Hey, why are you going to Zanarkand anyway?" "Haven't you heard? Princess Maria is to be wedded by Prince Seymour." Raushanna responded. Magus' eyes grew wider with anger, thinking 'Seymour.that bastard!'
Maria wandered through the small patch of woods swiftly until she came to a dirt road. The dirt road was about a half mile long, and far off in the distance was a mysterious, dark brown log cabin. Maria hiked up the trail in a sprint, until she ran into a small, green goblin looking creature. She stood there staring at it questionably. Suddenly the goblin jumped toward her holding a dagger in attack position, aimed directly for Maria's pendant. Maria twirled out of the way barely dodging the sharp dagger. The goblin spun around and charged again. This time Maria drew her shiny sword, using it for the first time.
When the goblin came close enough Maria ducked under the goblin and sliced it from underneath. Blood was now running at the end of her new sword. The goblin slammed into the ground. With the goblin showing no sign of life, Maria sighed and kept walking, placing her newly stained sword in her sword's holder. She was proud of her first, but effortless, victory.
The princess let out a sigh of relief as she reached the cabin door. She crept swiftly and quietly inside, calling out to see if anyone was in there. There was no reply. Maria looked through many things the cabin contained. A neatly laid out bed, barely used candles on the windowsill, and a polished oak red desk and chair. It was quite obvious that someone occupied this cabin. Piled on top of the desk were books, not just any ordinary books, but magic books. Maria picked up the blue velvet book from the top of the pile curiously, which was entitled The Usefulness of the Dark Magic. 'Magic exists here? Impossible.' She thought with great puzzlement.
As she was flipping through the pages, suddenly the cabin door flung open. A tall, mysterious figure had entered. The figure was wearing a blue cloak with a hood, hiding the face of this person. "Who the hell are you!? And what are you doing here!?" screamed an angry, manly voice.
Maria tripped and fell in shock, dropping the book. She quickly got back to her feet. "I.I.was just.just looking around and.and stumbled into this.uh.cabin. I thought no one lived here so I.came to look around." She stuttered with a quivering voice, backing into a corner.
"You do not belong here! Now die and be done with!" the mage yelled.
"WHAT? You're going to kill me because I entered your cabin! What kind of a person are you? Show your face!" Maria screamed as bravely as she could.
"Humph!" the mage let out as he removed his hood. Long blue hair fell out of the hood, reaching down towards his mid-back. Gorgeous blue and sparkling eyes glared angrily at Maria's face. Maria froze as she stared at this handsome figure.
"Why would you want to kill me so fast?" Maria asked questionably.
"Let's just say I'm not the friendly type. Now let me ask a question.why do you ask so many damn questions!?" the mage said angrily, now drawing out his weapon, the heavily blood stained scythe. Maria pulled out her sword and shakily pointed it towards the mage, not sure of what she wanted to do. As soon as she drew her sword, the mage charged at her at full speed with the scythe at hand. Maria had no way to dodge, so she threw up her sword against the scythe, which stalled for a very short amount of time.
Maria screamed. The mages strength and power overcame hers and she fell helplessly to the floor, her sword flying across the floor. She was now weaponless. The mage went in for the kill, but Maria rolled out of the way, with the edge of the scythe's blade barely a centimeter away from her neck. The mage grunted with disbelief as he withdrew the scythe to try again. At this point Maria dived quickly for her sword, but came two inches away from it and was pulled away. She heard a rip, and looked down at her lavender cloak. The scythe had the edge of her cloak pinned to the floor, and she could not move. The mage left the scythe there and lunged towards Maria and grabbed her neck. She had just barely wiggled out of her cloak, but was now in much deeper trouble. The mages cold hands were tightly wrapped around her neck and slowly tightening. Maria had to think quickly. She had come up with a good idea. Maria had kept her hands on his hands trying to remove them. Simultaneously, she kicked the mage with great force in the stomach. He groaned in pain and released Maria. She had dived straight for her sword.
Now, with sword in hand, she got up and stood in defense mode, which was quite foolish. The handsome mage already recovered with scythe in hand as well and shoved Maria on the bed, scythe centimeters away from her throat.
"Give me one good reason not to slit your throat." He said dangerously.
"Hmm.let me think.oh here's one!" Maria responded as she took her sword and lodged it in the mages leg.
"Yeeeaaaaaaooooowww!" the mage fell to the ground clutching his leg. Maria had gotten up from the bed and ran towards the door, sword in hand, though dripping with blood. "Not so fast, missy!" He screamed. Soon after he did a hasted chant and Maria was thrown against the opposite wall by an invisible force. She was floating three feet above ground and pinned against the wall. This one she couldn't escape. Maria had watched in amazement as the man did another chant and his wound in his leg was fully healed. With what looked like fire burning in his eyes, he once again reached for his scythe and charged at the helpless Maria. With all her might she had brought up her sword against the scythe. The two weapons clashed, with each person putting all their strength behind their weapons. With her sword still locked with the mage's scythe, she tried to spin and go for a low cut, but miserably failed. The blade of the scythe sliced across her shoulder as well as her stomach, drawing blood. Maria fell with a loud thud to the floor and cried in pain. She couldn't speak. The pain was unbearable. Her screams in agony did not seem to phase the mage. The young mage showed no sign of pity towards the young girl. As he was about to slice at Maria again he froze. His blue eyes focused on the pendant Maria had been wearing. The mage slowly put down his scythe and kneeled next to the wounded wanderer. He had started the healing chant he used on himself. Maria felt all the pain disappear from her body, along with the blood and scars. She looked up at him and slowly reached for her sword. The mage was too quick; he had pulled out a pocketknife and sliced at her arm. She clutched her wound with her other arm and tried to back away from the mage, but couldn't. He had already had his grip around both her arms. At last he spoke. "You are royal," he said coldly, "What is your name?" "Why should I tell you? After the way you treated me!" she spat. "You are going to tell me your name, unless you want to be killed on the spot." He threatened. That had scared Maria. "Princess.Maria Alexandra Leifoh Cortes," she said, trying eagerly to fight the pain in her arm, "what's yours?" "Magus." He stated. ".You said your name was.Maria?" "Yes." "Interesting." "What is it?" "Oh, its nothing, really.I.just used to go out with a girl named Maria.but that was three years ago." Magus said sadly as he got up. "But I couldn't get any closer to her, one because she was.uh.higher class than me, and two.she was killed.by a man who lives in Zanarkand.oh, let me help you with that wound." Magus placed his hand over Maria's cut and started a soft chant. Seconds later the wound was healed. All of the rips and tears in Maria's outfit were mended, looking as good as new. Somehow with that Maria's attitude had changed towards Magus. "Wow that was amazing.magic I'm guessing. Hey, why are you being so nice to me now?" Maria asked him suspiciously, checking her arm. "That pendant.it reminds me of so much.oh, uh.this is really none of your business. Never ask me that again." Magus answered. "Let me help you up." He said as he reached his hand towards Maria, and pulled her to standing position. "I.thank you-OOH!" Maria lost her balance and fell to the ground, pulling Magus along, landing on top of her. "Ouch!" she squeaked. Suddenly the cabin door opened. A familiar voice called out. "Maria? Are you in here? Oh there you are I-oh my gosh!" Raushanna screamed in shock. Mr. Piscura and Tidus rushed in. "What's the matt-whoa!" Mr. Piscura said in total surprise. "Hah! Look's like Maria's been busy!" Tidus joked. "Hey people it's not how it looks! Believe me! We just fell!" Maria explained, jolting to get to stand position. "Yea, okay Maria, falling doing what?" Tidus said evilly. Raushanna whacked him in the arm. "Uh.it's a long story. Trust me." Maria said calmly, ignoring Tidus' comment. "Psst.Maria, introduce this hottie to us!" Raushanna whispered in Maria's ear. "Oh, this is Magus, he lives in this cabin. Magus, these are my friends, Raushanna, Tidus, and Mr. Pisc-Cid." "Hello." Magus said as he got up, brushing off his cloak. The rest of the group greeted the young mage, though not as warmly as a normal greeting would be. "Man, you really need to tidy this place up if you want to impress anybody!" Tidus said to Magus, looking around at the cabin, chair overturned, books scattered, and bed totally unmade. Maria glared threateningly at Tidus. "Uh.I mean.well, now that we've found Maria, now in a cheerful mood, heh heh, let get our butts to Zanarkand!" "Where did you say you were going?" Magus asked. "Zanarkand." "Oh.um.if you like, I would gladly be your guide, I know where that place is pretty well, and can guarantee you the fastest route." Magus offered. "That would be wonderful, thank you. This map's a real pain in the ass to read anyway." Cid exclaimed. "But, under one condition. Hands off the lady Princess, you got that?" "Yeah! Don't go trying to claim the princess for yourself!" Raushanna backed Cid. "Sure, whatever. I agree." Magus said, "Hey, why are you going to Zanarkand anyway?" "Haven't you heard? Princess Maria is to be wedded by Prince Seymour." Raushanna responded. Magus' eyes grew wider with anger, thinking 'Seymour.that bastard!'