Chapter 5

       Without meaning to, I ended up falling asleep waiting for my spell on the others to fade. I tried staying awake to keep an eye out for anything, but the exhaustion from not sleeping the night before and having to bring all three far away from where their ears were ringing badly.

       It wasn't too hard bringing all of them here because I used a levitation spell, but using all that magic was enough to completely knock me out.

       When I woke up, the other three were still out cold. I lost how much time had past from me falling asleep, so I had no clue when it was they were going to wake up.

       Thankfully, it was about the time they should be waking up considering Lance started stirring a bit before groaning, then sitting up as he grabbed his head. "What happened?" he asked.

       "That depends on what you remember," I said.

       "For once, can you not be all cryptic?" Lance asked. "My head hurts, and I really don't want to deal with this."

       "Are your ears ringing?" I asked.

       "No," Lance said. "My head is just pounding right now. Is there anything you can do to fix it?"

       I sighed, leaning my head against the tree I was sitting under. "I'm not sure. My magic's drained right now. I can only do so much and healing isn't part of it."

       "That's fine," Lance said, still holding his head. "I'm sure it will pass."

       "Wait, I think I can make some kind of herbal remedy," I said. "I just....need to find somethings."

       Lance finally looked up at me, though he kept one of his hands on his head. "Are you okay?"

       "Yeah," I said. "Like I said, my magic's just drained right now and since it's such a huge part of me, it makes me feel drained." I stood up and dusted off my pants. "It shouldn't take long to make the remedy. I just need some rosemary and I'm certain I saw some not too far from here."

       By the time I got the rosemary and came back, Arcadia and Opal were awake, and they too had a huge headache. 

      I grabbed my water bottle from the bag and filled it up completely with water from the creek we were by before placing the rosemary into the bottle. I used my finger to heat up the water so steam was coming up from it, producing a rosemary scent.

       "Rosemary helps with headaches," I said, setting the bottle down on the ground by Arcadia, Lance, and Opal. "Just relax and let the scent do its magic."

      "Can't you do your magic instead?" Lance asked.

       "Like I told you, I'm drained," I said. "I couldn't find what was causing the ringing, so I had to bring you three as far from there as possible. Levitation spells really drain someone's magic."

       "Thank you, for volunteering to come on here with me," Arcadia said. "I don't think I would have been able to last long without your help."

       "Anything for my little sister," I said. "I couldn't let you come out here alone."

       Arcadia looked at Opal and Lance next. "And thank you two for coming as well. There really is safety in numbers."

       "Hey, the four of us always stick together, no matter what," Opal said. 

       "Did any of you hear that?" Lance asked. "It sounded like leaves rustling."

       I didn't hear it, but I still looked around anyway, trying to see if I could spot what was making that noise. I did, very quickly. Somewhat in the distance was a black bear with fur so light, it was basically grey. That wasn't common.

       I had a feeling this was no normal bear.

      "Just knock it out with a spell," Lance said. "You have enough energy for that, right?"

      "Yeah, I should," I said.

      But apparently, I didn't. I tried using the spell to knock it out, but it didn't work as the bear started walking closer and closer to me.

       "Grimm, where's the sword?" Lance asked.

       "By the tree I was by when I woke up," I said, keeping my eye on the bear.

       "Good. Use it."

       "What? No," I said. "I can't kill animals, or anything for that matter."

       "If you don't kill it, it's going to kill us," Lance said. "Your magic is too weak to fight against it that way."

       I couldn't even say anything else because the bear launched itself at me, but I was fast enough to move out of the way. And for some reason, it still kept walking towards me even though Lance was now a lot closer to it.

       "Why is it only going for you?" Lance asked. "I'm standing right here."

       "You think I know," I asked. I tried hitting it with a spell that would make it freeze in its place, but that didn't work at all. "This isn't a normal bear. I can't use my magic against it."

       "Yeah, because you're drained," Lance said.

       "No, nothing's working against it," I said. "I'm not completely drained. I should have been able to knock it out, or even freeze it, but I can't."

       "It has grey fur," Arcadia said.

       "No, really?" Lance asked.

       "What I mean was I read about bears with grey fur," Arcadia said. "They're very rare. They're originally black bears, but some kind of mutation causes them to go for sorcerers. Only sorcerers. Their magic can't even be used against it."

       I was still backing up because the bear was approaching, and as I was I looked around. To the right, in the distance, was looked like a very steep cliff. So I quickly took off towards it, and I could hear the bear following me.

       I stopped right at the edge of the cliff, and it really was steep with rigged rocks at the bottom. I turned around to see the bear getting closer and closer, so I waited until the very last second to dive out of the way as it launched itself at me, which sent it off the cliff.

      "Grimm!" I heard my sister call as she hurried over to me with Lance and Opal shortly following. She knelt down beside me. "Grimm, are you okay?"

      "I-Is it dead?" I asked.

      Lance peered over the edge before wincing. "Yeah. And I suggest nobody else look. That's disgusting."

       "I killed it," I said. "I-I killed a creature."

       "Grimm, look at me," Arcadia said, so I did. "If would have killed you if you didn't kill it. You did what was right."

       "I....I-I can't believe I did that."

       "What's up with you and not being able to kill anything?" Lance asked. "Even if it will kill you, you refuse to. Why?"

       "It's just who he is," Arcadia said. "And there's nothing wrong with it."

       "Yeah, but....He's a Wicked," Lance said. "Carelessness, ruthlessness, destruction is in our blood. We fight for our lives, and we don't think twice if something is trying to kill us."

       "I think it's been pretty clear that Grimm isn't just any Wicked," Opal said. "He's special and for that reason, we need to stay alive."

       "Grimm, you have a cut on your elbow," Arcadia said. "Come on, we'll head back to the creek and get it cleaned up."

       Arcadia helped me walk back there since I was still in a daze from technically killing the bear. I never wanted to kill anything, even if my life was on the line. I just couldn't for some reason.

       When we got to the creek, Arcadia pulled out a cloth and a bandage from her backpack. She was the one who packed the first aid kit just in case I wasn't able to use my magic to heal someone, like right now.

       While Arcadia was cleaning my cut, Opal said, "There was something seriously off about the bear."

       "Yeah, it only attacks sorcerers," Lance said. "We've been through this."

       "That isn't the only thing," Opal said, picking up a stick before drawing something in the dirt. "I swear I saw this symbol on a patch of the bear's fur. It looks familiar, but I can't place it."

       I looked at the symbol, which looked like a backwards C with a cross running through the centre. It did look familiar, but I couldn't place it as well. My mind was too foggy to concentrate.

       "That's the symbol above the door of my house," Arcadia said. "It's the symbol that was given to my and Grimm's parents so people will be able to distinguish them as the most Wicked. Not only that, but they put that symbol on their magical creations."

       "Are you saying they created the bear?" Lance asked. "Why would they do that?"

       "For the trial, I'm guessing," Opal said. "A lot of things were made for the trial. That cabin, the loud ringing in our ears, now that bear."

       "Everything that has created is here all year round," Lance said. "They never add anything in. What's here lives or stays here, and it has ever since the trial was created years ago."

       "So?" Opal asked.

       "So, the bear would have already been here," Lance said. "But why would they put that bear on the trial when it only goes after sorcerers? Need I remind you there's only one sorcerer in our entire generation? Why would they put something on here that wouldn't have been able to affect anyone else when the chances of Grimm being chosen to go on the trial is very low?"

       "Are....are you saying what I think you're saying?" Arcadia asked.

       "If you think I'm saying that the chief is adding things in here as we go along, then yes," Lance said. "He knows we'll make it far with Grimm. He's trying to stop us from succeeding."

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:O

lol, it's 1 in the morning. Thanks Shadowhunters, for distracting me and now taking over my life. cx