The Blooming Mage (On Hiatus)

The Frozen Cavern

Bloom didn't understand how he had survived the fall. When he'd opened his eyes he was laying in an icy cave. A small opening hung from the top of the cave that opened to jagged stone walls. Further beyond, Bloom could just barely make out the bright sky, now no more than a small dot of light far beyond his reach.

Pain wracked all over Bloom's body. His head pulsed with pain with every beat of his heart. His bloodied arm was numb with frost and snow as it entered his bloodstream. There was a swelling pain in his chest that ached every time he took a shaking breath.

Bloom could feel warm, thick, liquid dripping from a would on his head, as well as down his cheek. Bloom reached up with his, mainly, uninjured arm and felt the wound on his head only to realize that one of his horns had been broken away, down to the base of his skull, the base of the broken horn had been torn to the side, making a large cracking wound into his skull.
With a shaking hand, Bloom reached up and produced a ball of light from his palm. The orb wasn't nearly as bright as it had been before, and it constantly flickered and sputtered as if it were to dispel at any moment.

With several grunts of pain, Bloom managed to get to his feet, he could feel the tension in his bones as he moved slowly so as to not cause unnecessary pain. It felt that, if he moved too quickly, his bones would shatter.

Bloom looked around the cave, half hunched over and barely standing upright. To no one's surprise, he saw snow and ice all around him. Every now and again he could see paved stone peeking out from the ice on the floors and walls. He could even see the frame of a window that led directly into a wall of ice. Behind him, there was a doorway that led to nowhere, but to his front he saw a walkway that descended deeper into the cave, flanked by ice and parcels of stone walls and tile.

Bloom began taking a few steps forward when the magical light at his side sputtered and flickered out like a candle. Bloom simply sighed and waved his hand as another sputtered orb of light appeared next to him, granting him another brief moment of vision. A few steps later, that light flickered away as well.

Nonetheless, Bloom kept walking; making more orbs of light that sputtered out in a second one after the other. His body was nearly completely numb from frostbite. He could hardly feel his arms as he waved them to create more sputtering lights. At one point, when he was on an incline, he slipped and slid down to its base with a thud, hitting frozen stone tiles at the bottom. What would've caused bruises felt like nothing to Bloom's frozen skin. He wondered partially how he even managed to walk.

He didn't know how long he'd walked for. All he knew was that it felt like days, although that was mainly his near-dead mind warping his sense of time to a crawl.

As he walked aimlessly through the frozen cavern, his mind wandered, mainly to his mother who had sacrificed so much to get him into Sanli Academy.

Being such a prestigious school, it was hard to get into for the common-man. It either took lots of skill, or gold to get into any worthwhile mage academy. Especially if that academy is ranked 2nd in a country of mages.

Bloom's mother, known as Passion by anyone but him, was the most caring person he'd ever met. He could still clearly see her amber eyes. Her fair purple skin. Her loving, smiling face. Her horns that curled around her ears like a goat. His thin, swaying tail that was forked like the tongue of a snake. And, most of all, he remembered her sweet voice, that always put him at ease.

He vividly recalled the final day he had seen her; the day he left for Sanli Academy. The day his life changed.

***

"I can't believe my son is going to the big academy." Passion shouted with glee as she hugged Bloom. "You're ready right? Do you have everything?" She asked, pulling away from Bloom and holding him by his shoulders.