Looming Shadow: Journey to Chaos book 2 by Brian Wilkerson Read Free Book Online Page A

burned
his throat and strained his focus. The avalanche gained ground with every
passing second.
    It ran over rocks,
trees, and ledges that Eric was forced to dodge. One rock escaped his notice
and sent him sprawling head over heels down the mountain. Snow punched him over
and over until he soared through the air; he'd gone over a cliff.
    “Just like a wooden
boat, support me now so I may FLOAT! AIR DISK!”
    Wind gathered beneath
him and he fell on a disk of air. The mage jumped out further as the snow
followed him. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief.
    Eric watched the snowy
horde continue its conquest and anxiety bubbled in his stomach. If Kallen was
caught in that, then she could be dead or buried. It was a strange feeling; she
annoyed the abyss out of him and yet here he was worried sick about her. The disk
started to shimmer and blink. He scurried back to solid ground before it
vanished.
    With the natural
steamroller wiping away all tracks, physical and magical, Eric thought it would
be hard to find her and he was right. For hours, he searched the snowy
blankness without success. His fear for Kallen grew by the second. It was a
pain that filled his heart and anxiety that ran in his limbs. If she were
buried by the avalanche, then she'd be dead by now. Then he noticed something
peculiar.
    There were trees in the
carnage with burn marks and animal corpses that appeared charbroiled. A fire
during an avalanche? Then he saw a third strange sight and his curiosity
was piqued further. It was a large rock formation that stood in the field of
white. It looked like a horseshoe with a comb-over. Everything within the
circle was scorched black, except the girl at its center.
    Kallen was on her knees
and propped up by her staff, unconscious. Her cloak was a solid sheet of ice and
her hood had holes in it. Her coat and pants were streaked with chunks of ice
that looked suspiciously like slash marks. Eric fearfully checked her pulse and
again sighed with relief.
    This is why you do
not taunt the ice goddess...
    Carefully, he laid her
flat and completed a more thorough check for injuries. As he did, the crystal
on her staff caught his eyes. Inside, there was a purple light chasing an
orange one around a grey, or maybe it was the other way around. Eric had seen
the first light when he originally met Kallen and the orange a month ago, but
the purple was brand new. Is that the real reason she came out here?
    From inside his pack,
he pulled out a bottle of glowing green liquid. Its official name was “Mana
Juice” and it was liquid mana that replenished magical reserves. Eric tipped
Kallen's chin and held the bottle to her lips, careful not to let her choke.
With the additional mana, Kallen's body would heal on its own. His other
potions specifically treated injuries and hypothermia.
     He shifted Kallen into
a makeshift piggyback and carried her down the mountain. He didn't have to
worry about monsters because nothing on this mountain could withstand the
avalanche’s might; nothing except the girl on his back. By the time he reached
the base, she stirred.
     “I feel like a sack of
potatoes,” she said sleepily. “A bridal carry would be more romantic.”
    Eric groaned. “This way
is more practical.”
    “Safer too if Emily
sees us.”
    She wrapped her legs
around his waist and her arms around his neck to anchor herself. Then she
settled her head on his shoulder and shifted into a comfortable position.
    “Your walk is too bumpy,”
she said with her eyes closed. “Can't you make a float spell?”
    Eric sighed and cast
the spell. They continued like this all the way to Mambi. I really am her
pack mule...
    Somehow, he didn't
mind. It felt...natural. A clicking feeling like when he met her at the New
Scepter Competition. Just shaking her hand created the “missing puzzle piece” feeling.
Now it flowed to every part of him and made him accustomed to it.
    Emily was waiting for
them at the gate. She was happy to see them alive