Despite myself, I found my spirits lifted by my new friend’s sense of humour. After all, my circumstances seemed quite a bit less dire, when compared to his. I began to reach into the muck, seeking the dirt and pulling it into a circle around me, pushing the solid matter out, while holding the water in.
As I did, I became aware of the light shining down on me. I could feel it around me, but it was somehow not what I expected. With the mud pulled back into a ring around me, my feet descended, eventually reaching a more firm platform under me. Pushing upwards, I felt my head break the surface, and I opened my eyes.
It was moonlight; bright moonlight. With no real sense of time, I was willing to believe that hours had past, but since the exams were traditionally held during the new moon, clearly weeks had past, as I was looking up at a full moon. Well, nearly full. Close enough.
I looked around, seeing that I’d managed to convert a portion of this swamp into a pool of clear water, ringed by a solid barrier of compacted mud.
Looking down, I saw that even my clothing was clean. While I hadn’t expected the spell to do something like this, it made sense that it would. I’d been pulling all the mud from the water away, and so all the mud had gone.
That left me floating in a pool, trying to put my thoughts together. I should be hungry, but I don’t feel hungry. That’s probably not good. If weeks had passed, I should be starving.
Thinking about it, there were a few options. The trip through that gate, while instantaneous for me, might not have been that way for everyone else. There were precedents in legends, though most of those involved various types of outsiders. I might have been in some sort of trance, where I used minimal energy, or even drew energy in from my surroundings. There were precedents for that also, folklore about monks, mostly. Maybe I was in shock, and didn’t realize I was starving. That was possible, and concerning. I should probably find food soon regardless.
With that in mind, I reached out to my new friend, and with similar effort, unearthed his remains. They’d been preserved by the swamp. Remembering a spell I’d used to entertain a cousin at a family function, I was able to wrap the energy around his limbs, allowing me to control the body, as if I were a puppeteer. My initial efforts lacked any sort of grace, his body swaying drunkenly. But with a bit of work, I was able to get us onto dryish land, and by reaching my energy into it, I was able to sort of push the water away and pull the mud in, adding more solidity to the path.
He’d gotten quiet, when the mud had pulled back from his body, and now, as we shambled out of the swamp, he spoke up. “I dinnae know who or what you really are, but you’ve managed to show me something new, so I have to thank ye.”
Looking at him, his tanned face expressionless, but his voice somehow heavy with emotion, I replied “Hopefully you’ll still feel that way if they manage to find me. But for now, do you remember anywhere around here we might find some food?”
“Aye, there’s an pub not far from here, I reckon we can find some grub there.” There was a brief pause. “I’d point the way, but I cannae move my arms.”
“Not with your arms, no, but I think I felt the direction you were trying to indicate. That way, right?” I asked as I pointed towards the way I’d felt his spirit shifting towards.
“That’s the way, to be sure. Well, isn’t that a neat trick.”
“I think I’ve got an idea how to give you some control over your body, but I’ll need some time. If I can sense the energy, I should be able to make it so that your body can react to the energy. I imagine it’ll be slow and awkward at first, but maybe…” I trailed off, getting a bit lost in thought. Shaking my head, I started off in the direction I’d been pointing, keeping my eyes peeled. If someone spotted us in the dark, we’d probably be fine, but if they got a good look, we’d probably have some questions to answer, assuming they bothered to ask and didn’t just act.
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