Story Pt. 6

Quintaro sits around his pond, as he doesn’t really go far from it often. He thinks about his past, and how his own perilous decisions are still affecting the entire world around him. He was such a foolish young man, his own vanity had caused not only his downfall, but the downfall of more than one person he cared for.1

He taps runes on his staff. Looking to the trees with his eyes losing focus, he takes in their memories, of him when he was but a sapling to them.2

There is a boy running along a wooded path, he is a happy little boy, everything is going good for him. His very father, is the headmaster of the Magi-Academy. His mother is a teacher most fair, he can’t count on one hand how many of his friends are infatuated, he laughs as he runs, realizing he is the one she has chosen to love out of all of them. His sister is showing strong signs of magic though she is but a babe.3

He is on his way, at this time, to a spot in the forest known about to many, but actually known to few. He is one of the proud few, who can get there without needing his fathers help. He runs along the path as fast as his young little legs will take him. He is coming up on his fathers forest laboratory now, where his father does all his natural magics. His father is the best in the whole world at the natural magics.4

Slowing his pace he starts to almost creep silently, so as not to disturb his father, in case he is in a trance, weaving a difficult art. He notices the laboratory before him. The walls are only half walls extending in various directions, a long straight one, then coming down off of that one is a short one, and at the other end of the long one going off at an angle is a metal topped slab. On this slab there is a few animal corpses.5

The boy doesn’t know what his father is doing so he stops outside the half-walled room, and watches fascinated.6

The father oblivious to his own sons approach, continues about his work. He has the carcasses of a rabbit, a dear, and a squirrel on the counter directly before him, he turns to his right, and takes some tools off the long table there. Going back to the deer he slices it open from sex to sternum, he uses subtle arts of the earth to split the creatures breastplate right down the middle. He splits the ribcage down the middle, digging deeper to get to the heart.  He holds it in his hand, focusing very closely on it. He looks behind him to the cages that are below the far counter from him, noticing the live deer is starting to get skittish, in a cage that isn’t big enough for it to stand in.7

He walks over to that cage to soothe the creature, mentally reaching into it’s simple animal brain and sending images of cozy dells in which the deer could sleep the day away. Slowly the deer quiets down, becoming more restful. He unlatches the cage, leads the deer out gently tugging on a rope around its throat.8

The little boy is still watching this all, just out of site around a close-packed stand of trees. He can’t figure out what his dad is doing out here today. None of what he sees makes sense.9

The man leads the deer to the middle of the long table and ties the rope to a restraint built into the counter. He performs the same subtle magic to split the creatures chest wide, and sticks his hand into the beast and holds it’s heart, as blood continues to pump out of the greivous wound in it’s chest. The man holds the heart, until its last beat has pumped, all the while focusing his magical talent on the creature.10

Satisfied the man releases the beasts heart and the creature finally slumps to the floor, still tied to the restraint. He goes back to the deer on the metal counter, and places his hand on the heart again. Focsuing his power he starts to palpate the heart, slowly at first, and then the heart seems to almost pump on its own, he speeds up his pace a little. Eventually the heart starts to pump a little more on its own, he releases the heart with the hope it will beat on it’s own now.11

The deer flails it’s legs and squeals an awful noise, the heart that is still visible in it’s chest starts to beat faster, and continues beating faster, it is bruising in front of him now, turning black and yellow before him, and it still beats faster. Finally the heart bursts in the creatures chest. The creature shudders and collapses on the counter, at last, in peace.12

The boy had started to cry at the beginning of this display and was balling by the end. His father had killed a deer, and then made one do something when it was dead, his world had just turned sideways on him.13

The man finally heard his sons voice, though he had been crying for a minute now, the man had been deep in thought, he was overjoyed at the success he had just had. Now the shock settled in of what he had just done, escalating at the thought that his son of barely six had seen him do it.14

The boy runs away in tears and body racking sobs. The man follows after him but can’t keep up, both because the boy is faster and because he is drained from his recent exertions.15

The memory, supplied by the woods around him, begins to fade again from his vision. Oh how gross had his folly been, to believe that magic could be tamed enough to bring someone who had just died back to life, to heal their mortal wounds and once again breath life into their form. With his own son seeing him do it.16

He puts his head in his hands once more. A single tear escapes his eyes, falling to the ground a small white flower grows, with gentle purple edged leaves. The man bends down and plucks the flower, throwing it into the pond he says, “One more for the pool,” and throws the flower. Watching as it hits the surface sinks slowly, its mass dissolving back into the watery tear from which it was borne.17