THIS IS MAGIC

"Feather Play" muttered Val as he executed a skill causing his sword to appear as if it was a feather slowly falling to the ground.

In reality he had slit the throats of the three bandits who had charged at him as he flicked his wrist.

Mesmerized by the sight I was stunned for a second as I wondered how something so light and graceful could be so lethal and unforgiving.

"How did you do that?" asked Rayla as she stared at him with her mouth open.

"This? This is magic" Replied Val as he laughed charging towards the enemies in front of him, "watch each other's backs" and try to stay alive.

"What?" I said clearly stunned by the sudden twist the conversation underwent.

"You heard him," said Rayla

"we've got this, I mean how hard could it be we've gone through far worse," I said as I dodged the attack from bandits as they slashed their swords at me.

I crossed swords with a bandit as I blocked his attack, kicking him in his stomach with all the strength my legs could muster as I sent him flying into the tree behind me as he passed out. I charged at the second bandit who was sneaking up behind Rayla as I swung my sword in a wide arc as I cut his head clean off just as Rayla killed the bandit she was busy fighting by stabbing him right in his chest with the huge scythe.

"Thanks" she said as she turned.

"your welcome" I said as I turned to face the bandits.

"How's Val doing?" she asked.

"I don't know," I replied.

"Let's try to survive first" she said.

…

"Vanishing storm" said Val as he executed yet another skill this time as his blade disappeared in a single swing he tore right through his enemies.

"Don't tell me this is all you guys are capable of?" said Val as he mocked them.

"Kill him!!" screamed the other bandits as more poured out of the forest.

Meanwhile far in the distance stood three men who sat atop their horses as they watched the battle.

"It's been a while since there I last saw someone who fought like that" said the man on the left as he grinned.

"I agree with you but he's not good enough to make me come off my horse" said the man on the right.

All the while the man in the middle was silent as he stared at the Val with surprise in his eyes.

"I'm pretty sure he can take any of you on and guarantee his victory" he said as he laughed.

"You're seeing things" said the man on the right.

"I think the cold is starting to get to your head" said the man on the left as he laughed, "I'll kill him just to prove it to you" he said as he spurred his horse forward towards Val.

"Come on I'm just getting started" said Val as he cut down more men.

All over the place screams could be heard as people died and others were injured severely rendering them incapacitated.

…

"Rayla duck" I shouted out.

Rayla immediately ducked as if she was programmed to execute such a command and just as she ducked I threw my sword right at where Rayla was standing as the sword tore through the air as it impaled the last of the bandits on our side.

"Is that all of them?" Rayla asked as she bent down putting her hands on her hips to support her exhausted body.

"Yeah, I think so" I said in short bursts as I gasped for air.

"Flashing dreams" screamed Val as he brandished his sword like a maniac as he attacked the bandits on his side, mowing them down.

His sword left after images in the air which I thought was caused by the sunlight as it bounced off the surface of the sword, sometimes it would look red because of his blood-stained sword then white when the light bounced off the unstained part of the sword.

"Incredible" screamed Rayla as she stared at Val, while I just stood there speechless.

…

"That's enough" said the man as he stopped his horse not far from Val.

"Looks like the boss came out after I killed his minions" said Val as he flicked his wrist getting rid of the blood on his blade.

"Put your weapon down and bring all your valuables and me, the great Obua shall give you a quick death" he said as he took out the two Tomahawks hanging on his waist.

"I half expected that but that does not mean I will just hand my life to you so how about you and I exchange pointers," said Val as he pointed his sword at him.

"Come" screamed Obua as he stood there with his Tomahawks.

"Don't mind if I do" said Val as he charged at him, crossing a distance of fifteen meters in with a single step as he swung his sword right at Obua.

"Hmph, such pathetic skill," said Obua as he brandished the Tomahawks in his hands "Hatchet burial" screamed Obua as the Tomahawks in his hand emitted a golden light as they flashed out blasting Val back as the projection of short axes slowly faded out leaving the dust as they slowly settled.

"I didn't think you would be that strong" said Val as he slowly walked out of the dust.

"Impossible! Nobody has ever survived my Hatchet Burial" said Obua as he stared at Val in disbelief and evident shock.

"Nothing's impossible" said Val as he raised his sword "Falling Rain" he said calmly.

"No!!!" screamed Obua as he knelt and started to beg for mercy.

"Too late" said Val as he slowly brought the sword down.

The ground cracked and Obua started to bleed from all his orifices, his body slowly ripped apart by the beautiful falling light which came from the sky as he died.

"Being over confident of your little power is a sin" said Val as he walked towards us.

"Did you see that?" asked Rayla as she stared at me.

"Yeah, I believe so if you saw a rain of light" I said as I gazed at Val as he walked towards us.

"Good to see you guys didn't die" said Val as he laughed "let's get going we don't want to waste time before we get to our next stop" he finished as he led us through the corpses littered on the ground with the snow dyed red.

Looking at the corpses I couldn't help but feel my throat go dry from the realization that I and Rayla had killed all these people, my stomach churned making want to puke but I held it back.

Rayla on the other hand couldn't as she threw up behind a bush, her face colorless and her eyes almost listless as she found herself lost in the horrible feeling and guilt she felt.

"It's alright Rayla, there's no need to feel guilty about it" said Val as he tried to comfort her "Think about it this way they were trying to kill us and you killed them in self-defense" he said.

"But that does not change the fact that I killed them" said Rayla.

"I know it doesn't; in this world nobody was born who liked killing but in order to survive they had to kill, in order to protect everything they cared about they killed" he said.

"So, what are you trying to say?" she asked.

"It's simple you shouldn't feel guilty about killing them because if you didn't you or Ayo would be dead. It's okay to fight for your right to survive and to protect those you care about even if you end up killing someone" Val finished as he helped her stand up.

He gave her a flask of water to rinse her mouth, before helping her mount her horse.