ManaChild (A Summoner Fan Fiction)

Avalanche!

The look on Fletcher's face was priceless. "What?" He turned to face the wall of mud, rocks, nature, and debris racing towards the pair.

"Avalanche!" Jewel slung her satchel over her shoulder, did a quick assessment to make sure she had everything, and turned to run, pulling Fletcher behind her with a death grip on his arm. As soon as he found his stride, Jewel let go, knowing that they couldn't run as fast holding hands. Jewel pumped her arms freely, sprinting for all she was worth. Beside her, Fletcher was doing the same.

"What do we do?" He gasped out, his dark eyes darting from side to side. He sounded panicked.

"Keep running!" Jewel didn't want to look behind her; it would slow her down and she didn't want to know how close the wave was. Debris bounced over her. A rock that could have taken her head off whistled by Jewel's ear.

Jewel's thoughts raced, but she couldn't think of anything that would get her out of that mess. Fletcher matched her pace evenly, pumping his arms with Ignatius curled around his neck. How that didn't suffocate him, Jewel didn't know. "Anything?"

"Nothing." Jewel kept her head on a swivel, searching for anything that could suffice as a shelter. Her chest was beginning to hurt from the flat-out running. She had been working on her stamina for months now, but full-out sprinting still couldn't be done for more than a few minutes without her collapsing. Jewel thought of herself as in shape, considering what she had been through, though cross-country running was never one of her biggest strengths.

"There!" Fletcher pointed out a large tree, its roots deeply intigrained into the ground that had been bowed over, but hadn't cracked. It looked like it had stood there for centuries. Boulders had landed next to it, almost like an insurance policy. It was good enough a shelter as any. Jewel nodded and kept sprinting, knowing the wall of debris could reach them any second.

Suddenly, she tripped over an outstretched root and fell to the ground, her hands out to break her fall. She rolled with the impact and came up standing. The fall hadn't hurt Jewel, but her head start was lost. Fletcher had reached the shelter and was yelling something, but it was lost in the roaring of her ears. A rock landed on her foot only a few yards from the tree. Jewel yelped in pain, bent over and yanked the rock off her foot. As soon as she bent over, a particularly large piece of rubble crashed into her small frame with a sickening crunch and sent her flying.

"Jewel!" Fletcher cried out as she was washed away by the avalanche. Jewel kept trying to get to her feet, but it was useless among all the debris sliding so quickly. Pain gripped her slender frame, and it was agony to sit up straight. Standing was impossible. She grasped her things tightly, and a jolt of terror bolted through her heart as she saw the sheer cliff rapidly approaching. Jewel recalled this route; it was extremely steep and a fall would almost certainly be fatal. She tripled her efforts, struggling to stand against the tide and the waves of agony wracking her body. Jewel was repeatedly swept off of her feet, until she accepted the fact that she was going to fall. She closed her eyes as she prepared for the drop. When she closed her eyes, she didn't see the upcoming boulder. She slammed into it headfirst, and for the second time in as many days, her world faded to black.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~ Fletcher

Fletcher crouched beneath the tree as the rubble roared past him. Several times, the tree creaked and groaned, and Fletcher was sure he was going to die right there. If the avalanche didn't kill him, the guilt would. He had just seen his friend swept away by rocks, and he hadn't done anything! Fletcher brought his hands over his head, waiting until the roaring subsided. He dared to crack open his eyes and let out a deep sigh of relief. The flood of rubble stopped, but the forest was newly trashed, as if the avalanche had decided last night's storm hadn't destroyed it enough.. He stood and checked his bag. He still had everything, thank goodness. No, not everything. A familiar weight around his neck was missing.

"Oh, no." Fletcher turned and called out, "IGNATIUS!" Sure enough, the little demon was gone. Fletcher scanned the horizon for the demon's small red body. "Ignatius!" A thought struck him, and he rummaged through his satchel. Finally, he was victorious, bringing out a small headband-like object almost like an eyepatch. In the place of an eye patch, though, there was a small purple crystal, filed down so it was translucent. Fletcher carefully put it on, centering the scrying stone over his left eye. He focused the flow of mana within him and mentally felt to Ignatius.

His eyes snapped open as he felt a connection, and he could suddenly see things from the salamander demon's point of view. Fletcher shut his right eye and concentrated, so he could see more easily through the stone.

If he interpreted the scene correctly, Ignatius was trapped in a small pocket created by the debris. Ignatius was scratching at the stoness and dirt with its sharp claws, and was beginning to make progress. Having nothing better to do, Fletcher watched through the scrying stone as the small demon created a tunnel of light in the rubble. He withdrew the flow of mana from the stone, knowing Ignatius would be coming any time now.

Fletcher heard a low keening, and saw Ignatius crawling over the rocks towards him. "Thank goodness," he breathed, scooping up the salamander demon. "Come on, we need to find Jewel."

Ignatius chirped in agreement. Fletcher clambered over the rubble, watching carefully for Jewel. "Jewel!"

No response. "Jewel!" There was a cracking noise coming from his left, and Fletcher whirled around, carefully nocking an arrow. It struck a bear in the heart, and Fletcher was taken aback. A bear? He trudged over and retrieved his arrow, pulling out several tufts of black fur as he did so. "Jewel!"

Ignatius dug his claws into Fletcher's arm, making him stop calling out. The woods suddenly seemed to be alive with noises. Fletcher wanted to tell each and every one of them to shut up so he could hear Jewel. But that wouldn't be realistic. He clenched his fists, picking his way through the wreckage in the direction where he last saw Jewel disappear. He tripped over a rock, but caught his balance. Ignatius started chittering at him as Fletcher approached a ridge. He reached the top... and almost fell three stories. Too late, he realized the little demon had been trying to warn him. "Jewel!" He called again. His voice echoed off of the mountain's face.

Silence. Fletcher scanned the pile of rubble below for Jewel's pale body. He looked at Ignatius, mentally sending him an image of Jewel, then the wreckage below. The salamander chirped, then slithered down the rock face easily. Fletcher fastened the scrying stone above his eye once again, marveling at the demon's ease. Fletcher's mind split into two levels: one concentrating on following Ignatius's path while not falling; the other watching through the scrying stone for any sign of his friend.

Just when Fletcher was about to dispair, red flashed at the edge of Ignatius's vision. Hope sparked in Fletcher's heart as he paced the edge of the cliff, following the demon. He urged Ignatius to head towards the color. It obeyed, making a beeline for the splash of red among the rubble; the exact shade of red as Jewel's hair. As Ignatius slithered over a boulder, the sight there made Fletcher gasp and jump back. "Oh, no."

A/N Hi! Hope you enjoyed this update! I know I haven't updated this in a while. Sorry guys! Please comment and vote! Everything spurs me on!