It didn't take long to find some more of the bandits in the village, and while the smoke was getting thicker, and therefore making it harder to breathe, I was able to kill them easily enough. The range of these books helps me quite a bit.

I trotted along the remains of the village, keeping all the books close to me and looking out for any bandits that might be ahead. So far, I encountered around five bandits, all at different points and all alone, still picking through the rubble looking for whatever valuables they might find. The lightning and fire spell, were all reliable in killing them in one hit, and the wind spell I found was good for pushing them away if they got to close, but I started to notice the books starting to fall apart, as if someone spilled water on it and was mistreating it. It was most noticeable in my fire book, where some pages had already fallen out and the binding was starting to droop really badly.

Suddenly, I started to hear footsteps in the distance, approaching me at a run. I opened the wind spell and got ready to blast whatever was coming. It was difficult to pinpoint where on the street that person was coming from though. However, one thing I noticed was that the footsteps were significantly quieter than from some of the other bandits that I heard, probably indicating that the person was much smaller in size.

As the footsteps got louder and louder, I prepared myself to blast whoever it was back to where they came from, when I finally saw where the footsteps were coming from.

And who was behind them.

A girl, probably two or three years younger than me, was running away from three bandits who were close on her tail. All three of them were laughing and hooting, one even frothing at the mouth as they chased the girl. The girl looked terrified.

I wanted to help her, but she was in front of the bandits, so if I used a wind spell, she'd be sent flying back with them. I needed to wait for her to get behind me before I used it, but I risked the bandits getting too close before I would be able use the actual spell. I'd just have to hope that the girl puts on the afterburners and creates some distance.

The girl looked up at me, fear evident in her eyes as she started slowing down, fatigue starting to get to her. I realized then that I wouldn't be able to use range to my advantage if I wanted to save her. I'd have to get closer.

I started running towards them, dropping a book along the way as I made my way towards the girl. Just as I was getting to her, however, she tripped and fell, to the delight of the bandits.

And to myself.

As the lead bandit raised his axe to hit her, I used a wind spell on him, launching him back into his two buddies. Due to the girl being on the ground, she was able to avoid most of it, giving me ample time to make my way towards her and helping her up.

"Thank you," she gasped, her face filled with sweat and tears.

"Get back, I can deal with them," I said, moving slowly towards the bandits now on the ground.

I felt really cool saying that, but the minute one of the bandits got back up and charged at me, all that confidence practically melted. I opened the next book, revealing that it was the fire book. I launched a fireball at him, killing him instantly as a newly created hole appeared in his chest.

The other two bandits got up and assessed the situation, looked up at me, to each other, and charged together. Confident in my ability to create two fireballs, I launched one at one of them. The fireball was noticeably smaller than the former, but still did the job as he went down in a heap. His buddy kept going though, and just as I was preparing the next one, the worst possible thing happened.

The book disintegrated.

Right in my hands, the book simply crumbled to the ground, nothing left but dust in the wind.

I hurriedly prepared a wind spell, launching at the bandit, but the wind barely picked up, only delaying him two seconds before he kept charging. Panicking, I ran back towards where the girl was, hoping that I could find the thunder book that I dropped. I spotted the book in the ruins of a building, excited that I might actually be able to do something, and just as I am reaching down to grab the book, I felt my back explode in pain.

I crumbled to the ground, screaming as I felt a pain that dwarfed all others I've experienced in my life. I tried reaching behind me to find out what was causing it when I saw the boots of the bandit approach me. He kicked the book far away, laughing all the while. He spit on the ground in front of me and reignited all the pain that I just had experienced. I looked up at him making his way towards the girl, a bloodied axe now in his grasp. At some point, the girl had fallen, screaming as she put her hands up.

I felt hopeless and useless as the bandit made her way towards her. My only save and grace were those books, and now one of them lay way out of reach. I felt terrible. Terrible that my life would end this way. Terrible that I screwed up my second chance at life. Terrible that the girl was going to die cause of me. I wanted to do something, but just had no idea what to do. I felt the world start getting darker, and just as a last-ditch effort, made a finger gun with my hands and said, as strongly as I could, FIRE, at the bandit. I saw the bandit look back at me before the world went dark.


I woke up to the smell of smoke, fire, and … flowers?

I opened my eyes, still somewhat blurry, to see the girl that was running away from the bandits over me, looking down with a staff in hand.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

I tried opening my mouth to respond but nothing would come out. I felt tired beyond comprehension, but I wasn't hurting anywhere, so I simply nodded my head. She sighed and grew a smile on her face.

"Good. That ax blow wasn't very pretty, but thankfully, my staff was nearby and the axe was extremely dull. Took a few minutes, and lots of mana, but you should be fine."

She sat down next to me, placing her staff next to her and leaning against one of the few buildings still up. She was noticeably tired, but her breathing seemed to calm down from before.

"Thanks," I muttered, my voice still not working as intended.

"I should thank you. You saved my life. Twice."

After a couple minutes sitting there, I felt some of my strength finally returning, I stood up and observed our surroundings. It seemed we were still in the same area that we had our fight in, due to the fact that the bodies of the bandits were still there. The smoke still hadn't cleared, however, so visibility was somewhat reduced. The worst part, however, was the fact that the books were nowhere in sight.

"My names David by the way," I said, offering my hand for her to use to get up.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Lissa," she responded, taking my hand and standing up. She bent down to pick her staff up and started walking towards the denser smoke.

"I split up with my brother when those bandits started chasing me, and I'm hoping I can get back to them. Mind if you accompany me?" she asked.

"Sure. Though I don't know how helpful I'll be without the books." I said.

"Books? Do you mean the tomes?"

"Yea. I need them for my magic."

"So how'd you end up killing that last bandit?"

I looked at her confused. "I killed him?" I asked.

"Yea. A fireball ripped his bottom half off. Thankfully, it missed me and went into the building."

I looked down at my hands, wondering if finger guns were going to be my special power.

"Is it normal to use magic without tomes?" I asked, hopeful that I was the only one with such power.

"Your the first one I know to be able to. Usually, tomes are needed as catalysts for the spell, and while some don't need it open necessarily, they usually have to keep it on their body in order to use magic. I'd say your pretty special!" she said, smiling all the while and practically radiating joy in an otherwise moody atmosphere.

Her joyous spirit put me a little at ease despite the situation we found ourselves in.

"Anyways, let's go! Chrom might need some help!"

Together, we marched even deeper into the smoke.