Young Writers Society

Kazimir hummed in agreement.

“Yeah...” he trailed off, staring emptily up at the sky again. It seemed to clear for a moment, like a sudden blip of sobriety.

“I don’t know if I ever had that...”

He turned his head to the side, looking at the grass. It was long and tickled his nose. He sniffed in deeply and then breathed out, blowing the grass away from his face. The grass turned into little butterflies, fluttering away.

“You give good hugs,” he commented.

Kaz seemed to be making more sense -- he must be coming around. Derik's heart raced, trying to think of when to pull away. He certainly didn't want to be in Kaz's arms when he realized he'd been rambling to Derik instead of his best friend. That sounded like broken ribs to Derik. But... not quite yet. "You too, Kaz, you too."

Kazimir hummed again, but it was getting harder to focus. His mind started to drift, and he let his head fall to the side again as he closed his eyes, deciding to take a nap.

Derik let out a sigh of relief as Kaz seemed to fall asleep, still leaning on him. He hoped to the gods above that Kaz wouldn't remember anything when he woke up. Derik sure didn't want to remember any of it. But, there was only going to be one way to find out: waiting it out.

Kazimir fell in and out of sleep. He saw a lot of things. People who were half-snake and half-human, a spider who warning him of an oncoming plague, a turtle with the face of a bear, and a woman who only spoke in song.

For a moment, he saw his father, standing over him with a smile, and it scared him. Matvei never smiled. Never smiled once, not even when things were going well. Not even for his mother. He was always just a blank face, always disappointed. Never happy.

He was glad when his father walked off, and Marcus came back to sit beside him, telling him that he was going to wait with him. Kazimir was glad he found him again.

But then things started to crash down around him. The ground and sky started to crack like it was falling to pieces, and it broke away, revealing a sky and grass that was normal. The visions faded, and finally, he felt the high dissipate.

The rush was gone, and Kazimir felt exhausted.

He groaned as he slowly sat up, trying to remember what had happened. He was looking for Marcus, and then he was put in a holding cell by local authorities because of past crimes and looking sketchy. Still not a valid reason, in his book, but how did he escape, again?

His mind was empty for answers until he looked over and saw a guy nearby. He felt familiar, and Kazimir squinted hard at him, digging into his memory until he got a name.

Derik.

His eyes lit up with recognition, but the look only lasted a second, and he narrowed his eyes again.

"What the hell happened?" he asked.

Derik sat with his thoughts as Kaz slept off the Lumshade.

They really weren't in a great spot. The guards had stolen his sword and his money. His horse was in a stable next to the inn he was staying at, along with all his extra clothes and maps and everything else.

It'd be risky to try to go back to the city, at least until the guards went off high alert. But, it'd also be risky to try to Transport back to his room. He was still so exhausted.

But. He had to focus. He was here for a reason. This was a setback -- a massive setback -- but he'd figure out a way around it. He always did. And he needed to stop this guy sooner rather than later. Kaz's high babbling was a sharp reminder of just what this kidnapper was doing to the victims and all the people who loved them.

He looked over as Kaz sat up and seemed to be getting his bearings. Derik gave him some space, feeling a bit of the anxiety creeping up in his gut as he wondered what -- if anything -- Kaz would remember. It was hardly like any of that was Derik's fault, though.

A bit of hope sprang up in him as Kaz spoke. "What do you remember?"

"Uh..." Kazimir trailed off, pinching his eyes shut as he tried to remember. There was a lot of mud in his brain, and the most he could clear away was back to--

"We were planning to escape," he said. "We practiced, I think. You got a good hit in. It was good."

He scrunched his face up, trying to remember past that, but nothing came.

He opened his eyes and let out a sigh.

"That's it."

That was even less than Derik expected. Good. That meant he got to choose Kaz's memories for him.

"Spoiler: we escaped," Derik deadpanned. But then looked at him thoughtfully. "Our plan worked. A guard you knew came in.... Jada? I think? She got you with a big dose of Lumshade. We fought off the guards. Ran. Ended up here. You've been out like an hour now. How you feeling?"

"Oooooh, shit," Kazimir said, scanning himself for where Jada got him. His gaze landed on his thigh, where he could feel a bruise, and see the small puncture through his pants. "That makes so much sense. I was high as fuck. Okay. Wow. Well. Uh..."

He stared off past Derik blankly for a moment before he broke into nervous laughter.

"Yeah! I'm fine, now. Fine. We escaped, that's great. And now I should have some of my--"

His eyes shot open wide, and he smiled wide.

"OH HELL YEAH!" he shouted as he jumped to his feet, feeling his head spin, but ignoring it. He brought both of his hands in front of him and took a deep breath, feeling the spark of his magic bubble in his chest again like it was happy to see him. He could feel the energy coursing through his veins, like an extra heartbeat.

With both of his hands facing each other, he created a bright, sparking stream of blue electricity that danced between his fingers.

"Fuckin' thank gods," he said with a small laugh.

Derik also scrambled to his feet, eyeing Kaz uneasily. So, apparently, he did have electric magic. Derik didn't have the first idea how to go about fighting that, if Kaz turned out to not be so friendly -- which, according to Jada, he had a reputation of that. Still, he was intrigued. He gestured at a nearby log. "Blam?"

Kazimir looked at Derik with a wide, almost crazed smile.

Yes. He could blam.

With a laugh, he took in another deep breath, letting the electricity build in his chest as he felt it rising up again. It was right, this way. His magic was a part of him, and though he did have Lumshade every now and again to keep his tolerance up out of necessity, he really didn't like having his connection to his magic severed like that.

It was good to be back.

With one arm, he pointed at a tree with his finger, aiming near the bottom of the trunk.

"Cover your ears," he warned. And then?

A large surge of electricity pulsed through the air around them, causing his hair to stand up as he sent a bolt of glowing, pulsating bright blue lightning out of his hand, right into the tree.

There was a loud crack as the tree splintered and charred from the top to the base, and then the tree started to fall, broken and shattered where he'd hit it hardest. It fell to the forest floor with an unceremonious crash, now as a black and smoking skeleton of its former self.

Kazimir felt so alive.

He looked over to Derik with a mischievous but proud smile.

"Blam," he said.

Derik hastily slammed his hands over his ears, tight, when Kaz told him to then watched in wonder as Kaz utterly obliterated a whole grown-ass tree.

"DUDE! THAT'S SICK AS FUCK! YOU JUST--" Derik took a step towards the smoldering tree. He was vaguely aware that he should be anxious about that display. But his brain was merely delighted just then. He took a breath, forcing himself to calm down and stop fan-girling over Kaz, but turned to him with a broad grin. "Blam!"

Kazimir couldn't help but laugh.

"Hell yeah!" he said as he stepped up beside Derik. "I told you I have lightning magic."

Kaz had told him. And, on some level, he believed him. But he didn't envision anything like this.

"That's cool," Derik said. Much cooler than his 'apple magic'. Well, the R'hyk was rather useful. But it wasn't showy like this was. This was a refreshing change of pace. He looked at Kaz's hands. "And it doesn't... hurt?"

Kazimir chuckled and lifted his hands up in front of Derik, wiggling his fingers.

"No," he said with a scoff. "I can control electricity. I live and breathe it. It's a part of me, Ricky."

He then poked Derik in the shoulder, shocking him just a teeny tiny bit.