TT attached his stings to a bunch of rocks, branches, and even to Luke's sword and shield. He was like a Puppeteer controlling many objects simultaneously. The magical attacks wouldn’t work on her, but the physical objects would. He barraged her with a rain of objects, one hit at a time, leaving her with no openings.

  Liz didn’t panic. She cut each sting, one at a time. When TT lost one of his puppets, he would attach the new string, regaining his army. Her plan wasn’t working. If he hit her even one time, she would be in big trouble. She could feel the trap closing, and she couldn’t escape.

  The anti-magic was a lot like normal magic. The normal sorcerer would have a source current running through his body. Liz instead had an anti-source. When Liz was training with Zywa, they discovered that her anti-source behaved similarly to the normal source. So, they tried a lot of techniques to control this power, shaping her as a new, really strange sorcerer: The Anti-Mage.

  Concentrating, while trying to avoid and deflect rocks flying at you, was nearly impossible. She gathered as much anti-source as she could, then released it in one big blast. The purple lightning was covering her skin, and a massive blast of AMP hit all the objects, TT’s body, and everyone else nearby.

  The rocks, branches, and Luke’s sword-n-board fell on the ground. TT felt as if he had run into a wall of bricks. He experienced nausea, dizziness, and fatigue from being emptied from his source. TT wasn’t sure why. If that was because of Liz’s attack or because he just ran out of the source, using his power for way too long.

  Liz didn’t know if he was done and launched at him before TT could attach his strings back. She had him on his knees in a headlock.

  “YIELD!” Liz commanded.

  “I yield,” he said, and then even more slowly repeated, “ I yield.”

  The Hat Man tapped her on the shoulder, and she realized that she was still holding him.

  “They gave up, let him go.” He said.

  Liz loosened her grip, looked around, and saw that the group was defeated. They were slowly getting up and heading towards her.

  She won, but she felt sorrow anyway. That was her first victory, but she didn’t feel right about beating up her friends and crushing their dreams.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  The group gathered around. They handed their coins to Liz and picked up already conscious Han. The thick, suffocating feeling was in the air.

  As they were about to leave, Liz stopped them.

  “Wait, did you guys eat already?”

  A long pause felt like an eternity. Their uncertain faces were killing her inside. She thought they would never talk to her again. Not after she stole their chances this year.

  All of a sudden, TT's eyes shifted from staring at the ground to a gentle look in her eyes. TT smiled slightly and said, “No, shall we eat together?”

  A massive burden fell off her shoulders. She felt so relieved. She noticed a smile on all of them. They didn’t hate her. They were just sad they lost.

  The Hat Man and Luke went to the forest to hunt for some food. Leia and Han also went to the forest, but for campfire supplies, mushrooms, and berries. While Liz and TT were filling their water supply, building a camp, and preparing for cooking.

  Leia and Han returned first, bringing many things with them. Han was carrying tinder, some twigs, and larger branches. Leia, on the other hand, had a full bag of mushrooms and different berries.

  When Luke and the Hat Man returned, they also had full hands. A bunch of rabytets and dire geese were captured by them (mostly by the Hat Man). The amount of food remained more of a feast than a simple meal in the camp.

  TT turned out to be a great cook. He took responsibility for making delicious food for everybody, while Leia and Liz were cutting mushrooms and making tea. Luke was teaching Han how to skin animals, making him run into the forest to puke a couple of times. And the Hat Man was enjoying the warmth of a mighty campfire he made.

  The rabytets he made had a mild, tender, and lean white meat. The meat had a delicate, fine-grained texture that was not overly gamey. It had a sweet, nutty flavor. Alongside rabytats, there were fried dire geese. Dark, flavorful meat and crispy skin, with each bite melting in the mouth. The flavor was deep and robust, but also slightly sweet with earthy undertones.

  At lunch, they talked the whole time. They laughed a lot, and Liz, for the first time in her life, felt like she belonged somewhere. During the exam, she hit a lot of firsts, but this one was her favorite.

  Those strange people were the first friends she made after her childhood was destroyed. Every person before that moment was forced on her. But those idiots were actually chosen by her. That's what made them so special. They were all so different, and only one of them was about her age. Liz thought about what Zywa would think when she told her about her new friends who were so much older.

  After some time, it was time to pack up their things and go their separate ways. It grew quieter at that moment. No one knew how to bring it up.

  They were about to leave, and the only thing that was holding them was saying goodbye to her. TT felt really bad about how they separated the last time, and wanted to do it properly.

  Liz said she needed a moment and went to the forest. But before she went, she came up to the Hat Man and whispered to his ear. He took something out of his inside pocket and gave it to her. Quickly after, she returned holding that something in her hands.