A smack to my back and then pain follows, erupting and burning throughout my entire body. My blood aflame as it drains my mana from me completely. I scream as the pain pierces through my defenses, my knees buckle beneath me as they fall to the hard dirt below. I use the last of my strength to rotate my staff and aim the end of it to the Wardens neck. Pushing the blade end through causing him to bleed out and fall to the ground next to me. Dropping my staff and my hands to the ground, I hear her scream my name. Locking my eyes on hers, I feel nothing but my physical pain and weakness. My magic and aura completely depleted and removed from my body. A smite attack to the back. I can hear the Warden who was hidden in the beginning of the battle now behind me, unsheathing his sword. I keep my eyes locked on hers, she is too far away. I can't save her and she can't save me. My last moments of life will have my eyes locked on hers, taking in her sight before my body falls lifeless to the ground. Panic and fear written all over her face, then she closes her eyes for a moment. Energy and the fade being pulled to her. How? She's a mage? How could I have not sensed her aura? I blink my eyes once and look back to her, she is no longer standing in the dark distance across the fire pit. Her scent begins to fill my senses, lavender and vanilla first, then follows a citrus smell, then herbal as elfroot. Her aura swims through my body like the endless sea. Waves crashing into me and igniting life back into my bones and my blood. I feel nothing but her, her aura drawing me in like a moth to a flame. So beautiful and so strong. I feel all of her, all her beauty, pain, love, heartache, joy, and sadness. I have never felt so connected with her since I met her, never felt as if her and I are one. In this moment, as she pushes her aura into my body we are one. Intimate in the most spiritual way. Whether she realizes she is doing this to me or not, I can't help but feel my spirit push and pull towards hers. Feel my aura draw in her life, her spirit, her aura, and make mine one with hers.
Mana and strength slowly returning to my body, aura rising back up through the pits of my stomach and working its way back through my entire body. I turn to look at her, my knees still on the ground not yet strong enough to stand as my body is still recovering from the shock of the smite attack. She Fade stepped in between me and the Warden about to deal the final blow to my back. All I see is her backside, beautiful vibrant red hair flowing down her back and swaying with the wind. She has one arm laid against her side, flames flowing through and burning the ground next to her. Her other arm raised high, palm grasping the Warden's neck and pushing flames into his flesh. The man is screaming in pain, but she keeps her hand locked. Grip tightening and flames boiling his blood. The smell of burnt flesh filling the air and smoke surrounding the forest around us. Her gaze locked on the man's face, holding her stand until the life completely drains from his face. In one quick movement she snaps his neck and allows him to fall to the dirt below. His neck nothing but bone, flesh no longer covering the spine that connects his head to his shoulders. My eyes go wide at the sight, then I hear her gasp for air. Shifting my gaze to Hallie, I see her eyes flow to the back of her skull and her head sway, her legs begin to shake and then give out from beneath her.
"Hallie!" I scream her name and force my body to move towards her, catching her right before she hits the ground. I bring her head up and place it on my lap, my hands cupping her face.
"Hallie! Come on stay with me!"
I am unsure how her body is reacting to her releasing so much of her aura in one moment. Her heart is pounding against her chest erratically. Her temperature rising as sweat begins to bead up against her pale forehead. I move my hand from her cheek to brush some of the hair sticking to her face back. Trying to push my panic down, I force what I have of my aura into hers. Her aura is pulsating erratically within her body. Fighting to both remain released and also to pull back in. Why would she suppress her aura like that? Is her magic the reason why she was exiled from her Clan? So many questions that I have no answers to. Someone had to teach her such control over her aura. Controlling it and keeping suppressed with ease takes years of practice. Such a rare endeavor that very few mages actually accomplish without destroying themselves from the pain alone. But, she holds it in, as if it was never there to begin with. She suppresses her aura with such ease and control. She released her magic through her mind, through her body, without a staff and without burning herself. Channeling it to her will with ease. She's powerful and controlled, another feat that takes years of practice and still remains so rare.
She kept herself hidden, for reasons she may never tell me. But, in one moment, she disregarded those reasons to save my life. She not only saved my life, but revived my aura and replenished my mana with her own. An intimate move, spiritually. And now, to save her aura and stabilize it, I am forced to push my aura into hers. Once more connecting us as one. In any other circumstance, I would never force the connection upon anyone. It's too intimate, too real. To feel everything within another person, good and bad, and bring it into yourself. Such intimacy between mages only occurs between those who are lovers. Which her and I are not. But, it can save her. I can save her, like she had saved me. I can and will stabilize her aura with mine.
I kept my aura pushed out and entwined with hers until the pulsating of hers slowed. When her aura became stable again, I pulled mine back severing our connection. Hers then snapped back inside of her, suppressed once again within her body. Evidence of her being a mage completely disappearing deep into the depths of her body and spirit. She is still unconscious, but her breathing and heart-rate have become calm and stable. Her temperature dropping back down to normal again. With the remainder of my strength slowly returning, I move one arm under her knees and the other around her upper back under her arms to lift her up to my chest. I move my legs to bring myself to stand with her cradled in my arms, my legs are still slightly unsteady, but I manage to make the few steps over to her bedroll. Managing to gently lay her down, I go to my pack and pull out my white pelt. I walk back over to Hallie and bring my body down to my knees and tuck her in under the pelt, releasing a small frost spell to keep her cool and her temperature regulated. I glance at her face and move my hands to tuck the stray hairs on her face behind her ears. I keep my gaze locked on her face for a moment, taking in her peaceful features as she rests.
Allowing myself only a few moments of peace, I shift my gaze to look around our camp. Trees of the forest and the darkness of the night sky surround us, with only the fire that is slowly dying down to shed some light. The lifeless bodies of the Wardens litter the soil around our camp. The air still reeking of burnt flesh. I bring myself back up to stand and move my body around the camp fire to one of the dead bodies, I grab his legs and begin to drag him downwind from our camp sight, through the thick forest and darkness. One by one, I bring the three Warden copses down, away from camp, and form a pile. Calling on my magic, I send as much fire as I can muster to the pile of bodies to burn away the dead and release their souls. They may have been out to kill us or force us into submission, but no person deserves to remain lifeless on the ground for animals and insects alike to slowly pick away at.
Before officially returning back to Hallie and our camp, I pace the perimeter and begin setting wards. The task brings my mind back to when I first met Hallie. Sitting up in a tree huddled in my pelt. I chuckle a little bit at the memory of the sight of her, then glance up towards the trees. 'Nope, not climbing those to set wards.' I honestly feel as if only Hallie would come up with that mechanism to invade someone's camp and avoid triggering any wards. Though, now when I think about it, I should have sensed that she was a mage the first moment that I laid eyes on her. A non-mage would not have sensed my wards and resorted to the trees to rob me in my sleep. I was so distracted by her beauty and personality that the subtle hints of her secret never caught my attention. Such realization makes me feel foolish, both that I was blind to what she actually is and that I allowed such distractions to occur in the first place. I've even messed up and almost got myself killed by not paying attention enough to the third Warden who remained hidden until an opportune moment to strike came.
Running my hand through my hair, I let out a sigh and mentally kick myself as I finish up with the setting of the wards. Moving myself back to the campfire, I sit on a log and stare into the flames. This woman whom I barely know will be the death of me. I can't allow myself to fall for someone I barely know just because her actions as a person and her aura being one with mine affected me so deeply.
"Garrett…"
I look over and see her staring at me with worry in her eyes. I move my body over to her and bring myself down to sit on my knees, so I can be by her side and make sure she remains stable. Her eyes are locked on mine, filled with tears. When one drop finds release down her cheek, I lift my hand up to cup along her jawline and move my thumb to brush the tear away. When she speaks, her voice is cracked, on the edge breaking.
"Garrett, I-I….I'm so sorry for not telling you."
I shake my head before replying. "You saved my life…there is nothing to apologize for."
She breaks eye contact with me to look down before she speaks. "No, I should have told you the moment I agreed to travel with you." Then she slowly moves her gaze to lock back onto my eyes, waiting for me to speak.
I keep my eyes locked on hers before asking "Can you tell me why you suppress your aura? Was your magic the reason for your exile?"
She closes her eyes, my hand still cupped around her cheek and jaw. Then she nods her head, eyes still remained closed.
"I was taught to suppress my aura a little under a year ago by my clans Keeper. My magic is diverse within all elements. As well as, it is easy for me to control without the need of a staff to channel it." She inhales deeply and opens her eyes, once again locking onto mine. "Back then, Keeper Deshanna would help me practice with my magic, continuing to strengthen it without the use of a staff. It…..wasn't until she discovered that I am also a Somniari. A dreamer, manipulating the Fade consciously while I sleep. She deemed my magic dangerous and forbade me the use of it, to completely disconnect me from the Fade. She said no mortal should hold such a power over the Fade. She taught me to suppress my aura and hold it in. Over time my body adjusted and it became easy. That's when I began learning to be a Hunter. My skills taught to me by an elf named Taren. My exile was due to my magic hurting him. I lost control of my aura when I panicked after he proposed to me and forced his lips on mine. I…burnt almost all of his flesh from his wrists. I lost control of my aura and ran. I never wanted to use my magic again for fear of hurting another person on accident." She continues to fight back sobs and tears, her lips trembling as she speaks.
"Until I saw the Warden about to strike you. Garrett….I-I couldn't let him kill you. I couldn't let you die when I knew I could do something to save you. I let go of my fears and my secret because I had to save you. I just hope…I hope you don't hate me for it or find me dangerous just as Deshanna and Taren had. I have no one…..but you…and I- "
She stops speaking when I move my body from sitting next to her to lying next to her, then I pull her into my chest and wrap my arms around her. Her words hit me hard, I didn't know what else to do but to hold her while she lay her secrets and fears bare to me.
"Hallie, I could never hate you for your secret and I don't find you dangerous. You saved my life. I just wish…..no, hope that perhaps now that I do know, maybe you could allow yourself to be free. Like you allowed me to be."
She pulls herself closer to me and we just lay there together in silence. Arms wrapped around each other, her on her bedroll, me kind of on the bedroll. No, not really I am definitely on the dirt. But, sharing this moment with her, I don't even care. I continue to lay there on the dirt, holding her in my arms until sleep finally takes me.
I woke up to the sun shining down on my face and lavender scent filling my nostrils. Lavender? I look over to Hallie and a wave of her aura crashes into mine like a blow to the gut. My eyes go wide, is she still asleep? I hope she is, because I really do not think she understands what this does to me and my body. It's too intimate and arousing when my aura is no longer weak. I attempt to move away from her, but she is laying on my arm. My movement causes her to stir and she rolls over to face me, eyes still closed. Another wave crashes into me causing shivers to flow through my body and a rise in areas that should not be. I need to get away from her, I go to move my arm again and it tingles. A freaking dead arm? There is really only one way out of this, I have to wake her. I sigh and attempt to pull myself together, I can't handle another wave of her aura against me like this. It's too strong, she needs to allow it to release from her slowly.
"Hallie, wake up!" I nudge at her. She sighs and rolls over, off my damn dead arm. I jump up as fast as I can and move away from her.
"Garrett…..you okay?"
"No!" I sigh and run my fingers through my hair trying to gain my composure somewhat back. "Andraste's ass! Okay today we are working on your damn aura. That shit right there" I point my finger, moving it dramatically in her direction. "Is too damn strong."
"Garrett, I need to keep it suppressed again, I can't allow it to release."
"Bloody Maker, Hallie. Your aura crashing into mine like it just did cannot keep happening. It's too much. You can't keep it in anymore, you let so much out last night and it's fighting to be released now."
"No, I can regain control of it. I know I can."
"Hallie, you just don't understand what it does."
"Then explain it to me!"
I sigh and lock my eyes on her. The only way I could explain is if I shoved my aura full force into hers. Which would be extremely intimate, but, perhaps she should know what her aura being out of control does to me. I sigh and glance around camp. The sun is beating down at us, the forest is quiet, aside from her and I. Our horses still tied up and grazing where they stand, a few feet from behind Hallie. If I do show her, there is no guarantee she will feel exactly what I do. Simply because I am foolishly attracted to her. Which means that her aura would have more of an arousing effect on my body. For her, it would be intimate yes, only because the act of doing so brings two auras together. Last night, she completely made her aura in full force one with mine. Connecting in full, though I am not entirely sure she remembers it or realizes she did so. But, it would explain why she so passionately killed the Warden threatening my life. Deciding there is only one way to find out, I sigh and walk over to her. Standing only a foot away from her, I slowly bring out my aura. She feels it slightly, I can tell because when I did so, she almost stepped back. 'Oh ho Hallie, this is nothing.' I can't help but bring a smirk to my lips.
"You ready? I am going to show you what I mean." I keep my eyes locked on hers and lips pulled into a crooked smile. She nods her approval and that was all that I needed. I pulled my aura almost completely back and away from her. Then, when I knew she could no longer feel it, I bring all of what I can and crash my aura directly into hers. Chasing hers down in pulsating waves as her aura attempts to retreat. She stumbles back, eyes wide in shock. Then she leaps forward at me and stops herself before crashing onto my lips. Her lips barely brushing mine, then she pushes me back and moves away from me. Her back is now to me, I pull my aura back in as I watch her shoulders rise and fall, her breath in pants. Waiting for her reaction, I remain where I stood. Watching her, waiting for her to turn around. Lips pulled ever so slightly in a smirk.
"Garrett…I need help if I'm going to learn to slowly release my aura. So, that shit doesn't happen again."
I laugh at that comment. I walk towards her and come up from behind, bringing my face over her shoulder, lips just at her ear to whisper. "I can help with that. From now on though, you crash your aura into mine, I'll crash mine right back into yours." She looks over her shoulder and shoots me a fierce glare. I pull my lips into a cocky grin in response. Then pat her shoulder before moving to tend to the horses.
"Come on sunshine, we got a long road ahead of us." I can honestly say I feel damn good right now. Her reaction was perfect, seems I am not the only one who is foolishly attracted.