Fools Paradise

The forest is silent except for the grunting of the giant boar about to attack the young girl. Wittorf was worried about how he could get to her in time and what he was going to do but he knew no matter what he had to do something. That girl is in this mess because of him.

"Get away from her you stupid boar!"

Was that the best he could come up with on the spot? Well it seemed to work because the boar changed his attention to the new potential threat with irritation. It took a few kicks and started charging for Wittorf.

He leapt out of the way and rolled to the side to try and regain his bearings. Who knew he would be risking his life moments after returning to his old home. The boar continues his charge into a tree and hits it head on. It looked stunned which was more than enough for Wittorf.

Quickly he runs towards her trying to clear the distance as quickly as possible. He knew they needed to come up with a plan while the creature was recovering.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yea I think so."

"You need to get out of here."

"What about you?"

"I'm a mage now I can handle something small like this."

He was not so confident in his words but he tried to hid his concern. Ersa looked at Wittorf and shook her head.

"No you can't take this animal on your own."

"This is not time to argue just get out of here!"

Time was running out the boar looked like it was about ready to start charging again. Ersa hadn't moved an inch and Wittorf was running out of ideas.

"Very well Ersa, what should we do then?"

"I think I can take it out but I will need time to prepare."

Prepare, what? He did not care as long as it was something better than this. Wittorf nodded to Ersa. She stood up and raised her hand up.

"Occupy the creature for a minute while I get this spell ready."

Occupy it? That was going to be tougher than it sounded. Wittorf ran to the opposite end of the open area and grabbed a few rocks off the ground. He began pelting the boar with them.

"Hey ugly, I'm over here!"

That was enough to gets its attention now it was really mad. It started huffing even harder as it started its charge. Wittorf ducked out of the way again and grabbed some more rocks. Sliding a little Wittorf regained his footing and continued to try keeping the boars attention.

This time the boar did not hit any trees it was able to stop itself just in time to veer off course and redirect its momentum towards Wittorf who had only just regained his footing. The boar charged Wittorf and grazed him on his way around. Wittorf could feel the sting as one of the tusks bruised his side.

Meanwhile Ersa was creating a ball of energy in her hand. It looked like it took a lot of concentration this time to get it started. She was stressed out and that made it harder to focus on the task at hand. But she managed it.

The ball split into three slowly and began spinning in her hand. One ball at the tips of her finger the other two on each side of her palm forming a triangle. It was almost ready when she saw Wittorf take a hit from the creature.

"Just a little longer Wittorf!"

"I've got all day don't worry about me!"

Grabbing his side and breathing deeper Wittorf was not actually sure how much longer he could keep this up. He had never really been hurt before. This was his first time in actual combat and instead of scaring him it actually excited him.

He knew he should be terrified of what could happen but right now he couldn't help but smile. He got to his feet and coughed a little. The pain was almost nonexistent now. Adrenaline must have kicked in he felt on top of the world.

He picked up some rocks and began running once more trying to circle the creature and keep it out of Ersas way. He did not know what else to do but he was feeling a little cocky so he decided to try something new.

Dropping the rocks he raised his own hand up. Running and dodging out of the boars way he focused energy into his hand. Wobbly at first he managed something small. Bright but small. He figured if he was going to get any combat experience as a mage he might as well start now.

The ball grew a larger until it was the size of a cue ball. That should be good enough right? He had no clue he had never tried using it for combat before. The ball was made but how was he going to actually use it. He wracked his brain for an idea.

If it is all about focus perhaps he could focus on shooting it off like Steel always did. How did he do that though? Was it all just imagination or was there something more to it? He dived out of the way of the on coming boar once more and decided enough was enough he was going to just go for it and not think to hard.

Clenching his hand into a ball he grasped the energy and extended his pointing finger the energy coursed through his hand and arced lightening as he focused his mind on the target the energy began to form at his fingertip. It was like a shoddy version of the one Steel had used on him so many times in the past.

The boar charged at Wittorf and he thought to himself.

"Now!"

The ball shot from his finger and hit the boar square in the face washing over it and fading away. It shrugged it off and continued its charge. Wittorf had to quickly dodge out of the way but he didn't have much time left.

He jumped out of the way as best as he could but it was not fast enough the boar got another hit in on him. This time it was more than a graze. Blood was dripping from Wittorfs chest as the boar had scratched him pretty badly.

This was bad. He knew he would not be able to take another hit like that. He could feel the air knocked out of him as he gasped for breath.

Ersa was finishing up her preparations. The balls now had a thread of magic though them the center of the triangle began to glow and she grasped the thread closest to her and pulled it back.

"Get it in front of me!"

"What are you planning on doing to it? My spell barely had any effect on it!"

"I want to capture it."

Capture, what kind of magic did this girl know? She was the same age as he was, wasn't she? How could she be so far ahead of him in skills?

Wittorf gathered his composure and stood up. This time he could feel the pain. he stumbled over in her direction and continued calling out to the boar.

"I'm not done with you yet!"

The boar turned around to face Wittorf and began charging. It had been in enough fights to know when its prey was almost finished. To it this was the end. It let out a loud squeal as it charged Wittorf one last time.

Ersa lined up the shot with the boars legs using the tip of the triangle as a guiding point. Wittorf was in the way still but she had time. He saw what she was doing and as she nodded he dove for cover as best as he could while the boar continued its charge directly for Ersa.

Releasing the string the triangle bent and flung itself with great speed towards the giant beasts feet. Entangling themselves around it like a bolo would. The beast let out another squeal as it stumbled head first sliding towards Ersa who quickly got out of the way.

Slamming into the tree with full force the boar was finally unconscious. Wittorf couldn't help but let out a victory cry.

"We did it!"

"TH-thank you Wittorf."

"For what you were the one who took the beast down I just kept running around like a fool."

She took a deep breath and fell to the ground out of exhaustion. Wittorf ran up to her and extended his hand out towards her. It was about time for a proper introduction. He owed her that much.

"I'm sorry about earlier. My name is Wittorf."

"I'm sorry for running away like I did. My name is Ersa."

Extending her hand out shyly she grabs his and he lifts her up to her feet. It was already pretty late out and they needed to get home quickly before anything else decided to attack them. But they had a brilliant idea.