Kazimir was relaxing in the city of orchidia finally taking some time off from being at the rune knight headquarters. After the demonic attacks and the last encounter he had with LeeAnn things were all chaotic. One thing was constant and that was the divine blessing surging through him that seemed to change his life in an instant.

Not only did it impact the relationships he formed with people, but his magic. Undoubtedly it changed his destiny with whatever secret schemes the Seraphim had in store for him and the only other person he knew effected by it.  Even with all that though, the blessing brought with it more control over his magic.

As he contemplated his own nature and trying to cope with it, a page stumbled down the streets waving at him. In his hands was a sealed letter. He stopped before kazimir, panting heavily and extending the letter to him. The wind mage slowly took it from the page, “Thank you. Take it easy,” he said putting a hand on the page’s shoulder. It was always odd to him that despite being an apprentice some of the page’s looked up to him as something more, and his combat ability let him take on more challenging assignments. The page sat down in the street catching his breath.

Opening the letter, Kaz read a message from Inspector Nilan. It read;

Kazimir, it appears our job isn’t done yet. There have been a slew of animal attacks recently. The plants have returned and I fear things are taking a more dire turn. With your past experience with the instances  we would like to request your help once again in finally putting an end to all of this. As soon as you can meet me near the center.

Kazimir closed the letter back up and tucked it away in his pocket. “Thanks again, you stay here. I’ll take care of this,” he told the page before dashing off in the direction of the meeting.

The houses turned into blurs as he sprinted down the streets. The closer he got the stronger presence he felt from the vines and plants twisted around the city. It was almost like they reached out with evil intent. His eyes narrowed in distrust as he darted through the streets.

Closer and closer he came to the meeting point, but before he arrived, inspector Nilan appeared. Nilan rushed towards him. His clothes disheveled. The inspector eyes were wide with panic as he stopped in front of the rune knight. The ground slowly rumbled beneath them and Kaz steadied himself, looking around.

“Its the plant. Its back and is infecting the whole town.  Its vines have dug tunnels under the ground. They are sipping into nearly every area and are causing buildings to become unstable,” Nilan said.

Kazimir looked at the vines around the streets that seemed to strangle the buildings they wrapped around. He could see the surging of their growth around the structures.

“They are also spreading some kind of disease,” Nilan added.

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The inspector looked back at some of his men trying to evacuate some of the people out of the area. “There have been some reports of animals attacking their owners by the outskirts of town. I think its because of the plants disease.”

Kazimir nodded back at the inspector, “So you want me to investigate the animals and make sure the people are safe?”

“Yes. It’s taking all our resources to deal with the evacuation and maintenance of the city. I’m sorry to have to ask you this. But can you save those people?” Nilan looked as though he had no other options but kept an upright posture of confidence.

“Of course. I’ll head out now,” Kazimir replied turning away from the inspector. Normally kaz would feel some stronger sense of protective impulses in a case like this. But slowly his feelings had become duller aside from one. The feeling of wrath he always felt slowly churning inside him. He began caring less and less about life around him but it came in waves.

The wind mage leapt away to the rooftops and dashed along the wind toward the outskirts, “I’ll make sure they’ll all safe,” he said reassuringly but a small part of him felt as though he said it out of habit rather than feeling that way.

It wasn’t long before he reached the outskirts of the town. He stood atop a granary to get a better view of the land. Small farms dotted around the outskirts and he could clearly see the lay of the land. Scanning the area he soon saw the source of the reports. Some of the animals in a nearby farm were covered with algae and had a pale complexion. “So, I guess they are tainted by the plants poison,” looking closer he could see that even all the way out here, some of the vines protruded through the ground.

More and more of the animals around began to look the same and come out from their pins. A loud smash caught the mage’s hear from one farm. A barn door rattled as something struck it repeatedly from the inside. The barn door cracked as a group of algae covered pigs rushed out.

Kaz was poised to jump over when a scream caught his ear. To his left he saw a family of four that had moved to their roof for refuge. Inside their home was the cacophony of shattered glass and broken walls.    

More and more farms showed the same. “All at once! this makes things a lot more difficult,” he thought to himself as the inspector had asked him to try and knock them out. Of course the farm owners would prefer to have live animals as well but his time was limited and so were his options. If only he still had his protective magic. He looked at his hands and cursed the fact that all he was good for was bringing destruction now.

A scream resonated from another farm as a young girl sprinted away from an infected horse.

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total wc: 1010

His moment of reflection would have to wait. It was act now or risk the life of that girl. “No choice. Here I go,” he said as he dropped from the granary. He let his body spiral downward head first. He felt the wind against his face and rushing over his body. A few meters from the ground he suddenly opened his eyes and dashed across the air toward the horse.

The girl ducked down as the wind mage flew over her head. The gust of wind blew her hair across her face as she looked up at the indigo haired savior. Their eyes met but what she saw reflected wasn’t a look of compassion but one of serious resolve.

Kazimir glared at the horse and brought his staff up in front of him with a powerful swing. A fierce blade of wind rushed forth from the staff and ripped into the animal. Blood sprayed into the night sky as the beasts collapsed to the ground. Its last breaths leaving its body.

“Are you alright,” he asked the girl while standing between her and the torn up horse’s body. The girl just looked on in unsettled that her friendly steed had attacked her and now was dead in an instant.

“let’s go,” Kazimir didn’t wait for her reply and scooped her up to run her back to the her home. Her father rushed out to take her. Kaz set her down and without a word, just whistled to summon his griffon. The winged champion swooped down lifting Kazimir up and they headed for the stampeded of pigs.

They rushed toward a nearby farm where a man and his son were making their final rounds checking the fences. The two farmers  heard the rushing animals but knew they couldn’t get away in time. The father held his son behind him to shelter him.

The owner of the pigs yelled from his home, pleading for the pigs to stop but their algae covered bodies didn’t respond to him. Kazimir jumped from the back of the griffon between the charging pigs and the father and son.

Without looking back at them he made a circle with his arms. A spectral tiger appeared around his body. Almost on cue with the tiger was the warm sensation of the scar left by the angel. He felt his compassion draining away. All that was left was the need to end the animals. No mercy, no sadness.

A tornado roared to life around the pigs sending them into the air with cuts ravaging their bodies. Squeals filled the air until there was silence. Only the thuds of their bodies hitting the ground. Kazimir ran through the carnage left behind by his magic. His feet moving through the remnants before grabbing his griffon to be whisked away higher into the air.

He left the family behind without paying them any attention. His mind was completely focused on his task at hand. The family on the roof was the only one left.

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total wc 1510

He let go of the griffon and pressed his foot against the air. Feeling the pressure of his magic building up at his feet and pushed off, crashing through a window. He landed in a room full of rabid farm animals. The animals immediately launched themselves at him. Kaz whirled around sending a blade of wind cutting through two of them before jumping back out the window to the grassy land below.

The animals were so ravenous they threw themselves from the window crashing down to the ground around the wind mage. Many of them injuring themselves. Hearing the commotion the remaining animals emerged from the home. Two bulls stamped their hooves and bore their horns down at Kazimir.

The wind mage jumped backwards away from the rest of the animals, but the bulls kept on him. He dodged the first attack and rolled between the two. They faced each other again and the bulls ran with horns pointed for maximum damage. Kazimir dashed upward to land between them and pointed a hand at each one. From both of his palms a small twisted of wind erupted digging into the bulls and sending them to the ground.

He looked back at the remaining animals and conjured a final large tornado. On the roof, the family looked terrified by what they were seeing. Their beloved animals turned against them and now led to the slaughter.

The tornado swept them away in a fury of wind, grass and blood. Silence descended on the farms as the attack had come to an end. No more civilians were injured. The wind mage stood in the middle of his carnage, breathing heavily. All he saw was primal instinct until the warmth of the scar turned hot and he fell to a knee. Anger rose up in him but subsided. He blinked and shuck his head bringing his senses back as the families began to gather around him.

“Thank...thank you,” they said. Some of their faces were held low and others held back tears looking at the bodies of their animals.

“I..” Kazimir started to explain himself but the girl he saved put her hand on his.

“Thank you,” she said with a tear in her eye. Kazimir nodded and stood back to his feet.  The famers were thankful but the pain at loosing their animals was emanating.  Both due to connection and loss of finances. He mounted the griffon and flew off, leaving them to try and rebuild what they could.

Returning to the inspector he reported how things went. The inspector thanked him and gave him a just reward for his job. Kazimir took the reward and walked away into an alley. He leaned against the wall with his back and peered into the sky. “Could I have found another way. Is this who I am now,” he questioned himself. Although it felt natural to him now. He brought swift action that saved their lives. His magic brought destruction but it worked, he began to reconcile with himself.

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total wc: 2010