In which Megan is visited by the past

Chapter 18 of The Time-Teller

Chapter 18
In which Megan is visited by the past

Megan stared intensely at the great dragon.

 

“Magical injuries are very different from normal injuries, and this is why they can be tracked.”

 

“Different how?” Megan asked intrigued despite herself.

 

“Magical injuries, although they are in some aspects physical, deal mostly with the mind,” the dragon spoke. Pyralis sat beside Megan resting with his chin on his knuckles.

 

“How?” Megan wondered aloud. “I don’t feel any different from before I was magically injured.”

 

“Well, generally people don’t.” Megan was almost sure she heard the dragon chuckle. “That is why a special light is required in order to see them. Most dragons are able to heal these injuries without any assistance from such a light as we are able to see them with the only our eyes.”

 

“What do they do?” Megan asked curiously.

 

“They do different things depending on the person or spell, which is what makes them so fascinating. It is impossible to interpret exactly how someone will react to such an injury. The most common things are despair and loss of memory.” Lethia turned away from the small tunnel entrance, suddenly interested. “I’m sorry Lethia, but I believe that your case, although it could perhaps involve magic, is not the same.” Lethia sighed and went back to staring dreamily out into the tunnel. “In any case,” the dragon continued. “You have been injured in such a way as I spoke of. Pyralis told you this, correct.”

 

“Yea,” Megan said. “He told me…” Megan remembered the battle at the castle and all the things she had gone through since then. It seemed so long ago.

 

“Anyway,” the dragon continued. “I will explain fully about how to track the wizard you seek before healing your injuries because it might be difficult to speak afterwards.”

 

“Does it take that much energy?” Megan asked. “You don’t have to do it. Pyralis said Gethin hurt you. You shouldn’t worry since I don’t even notice anything.”

 

‘You are as a relative to me, and as such, I will not leave you wounded,” the dragon thought to Megan. Pyralis sighed. Megan had a feeling that he knew perfectly well that the dragon could speak to Megan through thought. In fact, she didn’t doubt it at all. She wondered what Pyralis could have gone through to learn so much.

 

“Magic is a strange thing that not even my kind can fully comprehend. Pyralis, you understand more of magic than an average wizard because of Helia.

 

“It is hard to comprehend, but magic is made up of nothing. Nothing is its essence. Most things that people hold on to and know are made of matter, touchable things or energy. Magic is the untouchable force. It is neither energy nor matter. It is composed of a similar substance to the soul. This is why sometimes, amateur mages are able to accomplish great things. Magic can in actuality feel things similar to your human emotions. In fact, magic is almost like an emotion in itself.

 

“Thus, the way to track a wound caused by magic is to search for a life energy, a soul, which has a small piece replaced.”

 

“Something replaces a piece of the soul,” Megan said, clutching her chest. “That’s… that’s scary.”

 

“Yes, most people avoid these injuries. In some places, magic is forbidden.”

 

“I can see why!” Megan said. “If it replaces a part of the soul. Does the person ever get that piece back?”

 

“Only if it is healed,” the dragon closed his great eyes. “Do not fear, Megan. The soul is a strong thing, and yours is stronger than most. In any case, Pyralis and Megan, you must perform this magic to find that wizard. This can normally only be done with the combined force of many wizards, but because you are both so unique, I believe you will be able to accomplish it.” Megan stared at the floor. She was amused that earlier, the prospect of performing magic with Pyralis would have given her shivers. Now however, she almost looked forward to it, to learn more about this nothingness as the dragon described it, with Pyralis’ guidance.

 

“What type of magic is used?” Pyralis asked drawling as lazily as ever.

 

“Well, it most resembles healing magic,” the dragon said after a moment of thinking. “Because healing magic finds wounds and is able to touch slightly upon the soul. However, it is much stronger than simple healing magic, which is why you must perform the spell together.”

 

“I see,” Pyralis tilted his head to the side.

 

“Anima concisa,” the dragon said. “Is what you must chant as you perform the magic. Mind you, it must be a slow and concentrated chanting. You must put your hands together, so that you are standing in a circle. The outside world must not interfere with this magic, lest it become uncontrollable. You must bow, placing your foreheads against each other. Then, create a field of protective magic around yourself. After this is completed, begin to chant and you feel what you seek.”

 

“That is an interesting way to perform a spell,” Pyralis said suspiciously. “In fact, I believe that formation is used in attempts to resurrect the dead. This is not a forbidden magic?”

 

“What is forbidden magic?” Megan asked.

 

“Magic, which is goes against the nature of magic. On most occasions this magic will retaliate against the mage or wizard who attempts it.”

 

“Fear not,” the dragon said sternly. “This is nothing of the sort.” Megan felt uneasy. “Now, as I have finished explaining the way to you, I will proceed to heal your injuries. I will attempt to heal Megan’s first.”

 

“Attempt?” Megan asked.

 

“Fear not.” The dragon folded his wings out and curved them in front of him, to make what resembled a hammock or a cradle.

 

“Lay there.” The dragon commanded. “Close your eyes.” Megan obeyed.

After a short pause, the dragon spoke, “do you know where you received these wounds, young one?”

 

“Well,” Megan said. “At the battle at Labelle castle… We were fighting Gethin.”

 

“Is that so?” the dragon said. “That would have been fairly recent.”

 

“Fairly…” Megan began to feel uneasy.

 

“It did not happen ten years ago, I surmise.”

 

“No,” Megan was now very suspicious. “Why?”

 

“There are many small wounds around your arms and legs, which you were using for your magic, mostly your arms. However, there is a deep magical wound in your side, which appears to be ten years old and caused by a very strong magic.”

 

“A what?” Megan almost yelled. “But I didn’t even come here a year ago!”

 

“The wound is there however. You may have had negative effects from it for as far back as you can remember.”

 

“I…” Megan shut her eyes tightly. She didn’t know what to say. How could she possibly have been injured by magic. “What were my parents hiding from me?” Megan whispered to herself. She felt deceived and tricked. “Were they trying to protect me somehow?”

 

“Calm yourself,” the dragon soothed. “I can not perform my magic if you do not relax.”

 

It took Megan almost a half an hour to relax, and by then, Pyralis had already begun to doze. Megan lay still. She felt a soft warm feeling moving through her arms and her side. Her arms tingled slightly, but her side began to ache. She felt as though someone were tugging at her insides. Megan breathed deeply, trying as hard as she could to stay calm for the dragon, who was helping her.

 

After several minutes, the ache became more of a tickling feeling, and Megan had to try hard to keep from laughing. Then, a warm feeling, like mist in the sunshine filled her whole body, then disappeared instantly. Megan sat up.

 

“Is it done?” she asked.

 

“Yes,” the dragon nodded. “The magic is complete, and your wounds are gone.” Megan jumped out of the dragon’s wings.

 

“I don’t feel any different,” she laughed, but somehow the dream she had been having, of blue and emerald flames seemed to be more vivid in her mind. “Maybe, I fell asleep on the dragon.” Megan brushed the thought aside. The dragon told Pyralis that he would also heal his wounds. Megan covered her mouth and kept her hand their tightly, but she couldn’t stop the laughter. Pyralis looked so ridiculous laying in the dragon’s wings. Pyralis almost always slept, sitting or half sitting, and to see him lying down like that almost brought Megan to tears.

 

“Is there something wrong,” Pyralis turned his blue-film eyes toward Megan and raised his eyebrows.

 

“It’s nothing,” Megan grinned and sat down, leaning against the cave wall. It took the dragon much longer to heal Pyralis, and Megan had a feeling that he had not suffered damage from only one battle. After Pyralis was healed, the dragon drifted immediately into sleep.

 

“Megan,” Pyralis stared at Megan. “Are you prepared to find Gethin?”

 

“I’ve been prepared since the day we visited your friend when I first came here.” Pyralis nodded.

 

They followed the dragon’s instructions. Megan had forgotten most of them, but Pyralis remembered. After Pyralis had constructed a field of magic around them, they began to chant slowly and rhythmically. Megan at first had trouble following Pyralis as he chanted, but soon it was no longer difficult. She forgot the world around her and thought only of finding Gethin. Finding Gethin was all that was important at that instant. A sphere of what appeared to be light appeared under inside the dome Megan and Pyralis had created with their bodies and the field of magic. Megan kept chanting. Soon, the sphere began to grow. It grew until it enveloped Megan’s face.

Megan felt a strange feeling when her face was in the sphere. She felt as though she were some huge energy force hovering over a million living creatures. She could sense the living creatures, although she couldn’t see anything.

 

“Louder,” Pyralis’ voice softly spoke through the sphere. “The chant.” Megan began to chant louder and heard Pyralis do the same. She concentrated as hard as she possibly could.

 

“Do you feel the life?” Pyralis asked softly.

 

“Yes,” Megan replied in between words. Suddenly she found herself focused on much less of the creatures, only creatures, which didn’t seem to be complete, as though she could feel the anguish of their souls.

 

“Do you remember the feel of my magic?”

 

“Yes,” Megan replied.

 

“Try to find one that has that same feel in the sadness of its soul.” Megan concentrated harder and kept chanting. Her throat felt soar, and she was out of breath from so much chanting. Suddenly, Megan understood what Pyralis had meant, she found a creature, and she knew. She knew from the very core of her being that this creature amidst the many living things was Gethin.

 

“Where is he?” she whispered in a pause in the chanting.  She felt herself as energy floating down towards him. I want to see, she thought to herself. She concentrated hard on being able to see inside the strange sphere of magic. She wanted to look upon Gethin. She wanted to know his face and despise it. She wanted more than anything to know where he was. Suddenly blurred imaged began to appear in front of her eyes. She could vaguely make out that she was floating above some sort of forest near a valley. She floated in towards the forest toward the energy that she felt as Gethin. She could feel Pyralis’ energy beside her. The forest then became clear.

 

“I know this forest,” Pyralis said. “If we find him in it, I will know his general whereabouts.” They came into a clearing and Megan could see to figures, one walking around, the other leaning against a tree. The one that lay against the tree was Gethin. Megan knew it, and she knew Pyralis knew it.

 

“We are being watched.” She heard an unsettlingly familiar voice. Slowly, Gethin’s face became visible.

 

“I know you’re there,” Gethin spoke. “I can sense you, Pyralis, although I don’t know who you are with.”

Megan’s heart stopped. She couldn’t breathe to continue the chant.

 

“Dad?” she choked, staring into the face she had known as her father’s. Her concentration was gone, and had it not been for Pyralis they would have not been able to end the spell properly.

Pyralis and Megan fell apart from each other onto the cold earth floor. Megan had never really thought over Tempus’ words back then, but now they came rushing into her head like a long-forgotten nightmare. ‘Your mother suffocated to death, and your father might as well be dead too,’

 

“‘Might as well be,’” Megan whispered.