Rhys was now deeper within the forest, gathering a bunch of sticks that looked good enough for a fire.
Now, he’s never started a fire before, but trial and error worked before.
Rhys: [These over here should be alright…]
He picked up a few more sticks, already at his limit.
Finally getting ready to head back to check and see if Wolf is still there.
The sun was also setting pretty fast.
Letting all the orange sunlight pierce through the branches and leaves ahead.
Rhys: [Hey Wolf!
I’m back!]
Wolf’s head emerged from the left side of the trunk, her tail wagging in the slight breeze as she warmly greeted.
Rhys: [You seem excited.
What have you been doing while I was gone?]
Wolf: [Woof!]
Rhys followed her back to the back of the tree, without the sticks to witness her new skill that she wanted to show off.
She took some leaves from their new bed and made them swirl around on their own in the air.
Creating some sort of magical work of art.
Her talents amazed Rhys, making him want to know if she could be anything else so badly.
Rhys: [Is there anything else you can do?!]
It took him two seconds to fold.
Wolf immediately got ready to jump off the root that she was on.
Just as she was about to do it, Rhys tried to stop her, fearing that she might get injured or something worse.
She obviously didn’t need Rhys to worry about her though.
Rhys: [Whoa!]
Wolf was gliding herself through the air, using her magic as a sort of levitation device.
She floated all the way into Rhys’s arms, where she plopped down and fell asleep in an instant.
Rhys: Huh, so that’s why she didn’t show me much before.
I’m guessing she has to recharge her magic every once in a while…
Then Rhys got an idea.
Rhys: I wonder if I could use magic somehow!
He plopped Wolf back onto the leaf bed and got ready to cast whatever spell he could think of.
Rhys: [Fire Ball!]
He put out his hands, hoping that fire would shoot out, not really taking into consideration that the entire forest would burn down if he could.
Luckily, it didn’t work.
Rhys: [I guess I don’t have to use incantations or something.
Where do I remember hearing something like that?]
He then, with his palms facing downward, tried to think of everything water, but to nothing.
Rhys: What the hell?!
Why can’t I use magic like Wolf just did a second ago…
He tried a couple of different kinds of magic he could think of; but every single one ended in failure.
With flying, he face-planted onto the ground, probably breaking his nose a little.
With telekinesis, nothing but static and silence came from Wolf’s mind.
With electricity, he just shocked himself with kinetic energy.
Rhys: [Goddammit!]
He stomped his feet on the ground, on the verge of just giving up for the day.
That’s when he remembered the leaves for their bed were full of magic to use.
Rhys: Maybe I can control magic, but not emit it.
Yeah!
Yeah, that’s probably it, right?!
He snatched a couple of leaves that were scattered on the ground near the bed.
He looked at them with a lot of intensity, trying to channel their energy through his blood or something.
Another experiment failed.
Rhys: [Wow.
I really can’t use magic, I guess.
That sucks!
What’s the point of me being in a world with magic, if I can’t FUCKING USE IT!!]
He crumpled the leaves into his hands and watched as their magic floated away toward the approaching sunset.
Rhys: [I guess I’ll just deal with this campfire so we don’t freeze to death in the cold…]
He stretched his body as much as he could.
Rhys: [Where did I put the sticks again?]
He walked back over to the front of the tree and gathered them all back into his hands, not wanting to bother with two trips.
Wolf woke up to the circular pattern of sticks that Rhys had put together.
Along with some sticks piled in the middle.
She stretched her legs and got up to investigate.
With Rhys’s back turned to her, not knowing that she had woken up.
A prank had to be played on him.
Tip, toe.
Tip, toe.
She inched closer to the unsuspecting Rhys, giggling in her mind about how scared he was going to be.
Tip, toe.
Tip, toe.
Now even closer, she saw he was trying to imitate how people would rub sticks together to create fire.
Tip, toe.
Tip, toe.
Almost there…
Tip, toe.
Wolf: [WOOF!!!]
Rhys screamed like a girl and fell face-first onto his pile of sticks.
His ass exposed to Wolf’s young mind.
Rhys: [Agh!
What the fuck Wolf!
Why’d you scare me?!]
She flipped back into her playful and innocent facade, not wanting to get into any trouble with Rhys.
Rhys: Aww… damn it!
I can’t stay mad at you…
He goes back to striking the two sticks together desperately.
Rhys: [Can you wait for a second while I make us a fire?!]
She walked past Rhys and onto the pile of sticks.
He tried to stop her, so she didn’t ruin the formation; before anything else, she used her magic to light the very tip of the pile with ease.
Saving Rhys the trouble.
Rhys: [Oh yeah… I forgot you could do that.]
He gives her some well-deserved pats on her head.
Which isn’t the best thing in the world, but it’ll do for her at least.
Rhys: [Y’know… I tried to use magic like you do, but it didn’t work!
Can only animals like you use magic or something?]
Wolf looked just as confused as Rhys; all the sentient beings seemed like they could use magic somewhat.
Maybe it was because he was an animal-like person.
She leaned her body against Rhys’s leg.
A sort of hug, showing that no matter how stupid Rhys was, she’ll always be grateful to him for saving her life.
Rhys: [Oh, c’mon!
Don’t give me your pity!
I got you to do any magic that I need, so it doesn’t matter, anyway.]
The orange-red sunlight was fading into the horizon.
Rhys watched the sunset with a sort of hope in his heart.
Rhys: [I think that we should find some food before night falls.
I don’t want to continue the night on an empty stomach…]
Wolf wholeheartedly agrees with his plan and gets back up before running off deeper into the forest.
Rhys stays behind and watches the fire crackle in the wind, feeling the ash slowly seep into his lungs.
Finally, after a minute of his drifting into his own mind, Wolf barked at him to get his ass moving.
Which finally set him back into the groove of things.
Maybe this time they’ll live.
Maybe.