JAKE.

　　I growl in agitation. For hours on end I have searched for the forbidden leaf, but to no avail.

　　I go back to meet the old man, slamming the door shut which brings his attention to me.

　　“I can’t find it. I’ve searched for hours and hours for the damned thing, yet, no trace whatsoever. It vanished into thin air.” I chuckle almost hysterically and I run my hands through my hair.

　　“That’s impossible.” The old man sputtered out “The only way the forbidden leaf can be gone is if someone has taken it.”

　　“Yeah, no shit.” I spat out, facing him while my hands were on my head.

　　“There is no other way to do this. Unless you find the forbidden leaf the love potion cannot be created.” The old man said.

　　“And how on earth am I supposed to do that?” I roared, whipping my hand across one of the tables to bring the things there to shatter on the ground. I turned to him to see the slight rage in my eyes which made him cower in fear. What a coward.

　　There was silence, the only noise made being the slight bubbling sound of the cauldron.

　　“You could trace it.” the old wizard said out of nowhere.

　　I felt a wave of confusion and curiosity at his words “What?” I asked.

　　The old man looked nervous as he spoke, fiddling with his long wrinkled hands, “Using your magic of course, you could smell the trail of magic the leaves bring. Only then can you successfully trace it.”

　　“And how do I do that?” I asked for my attention now. The old wizard turned back and began to frantically search for a book on his bookshelf whilst speaking.

　　“There is a spell that can be very useful. It is found in a secret book. ” he said, still roaming around the bookshelf, searching.

　　Soon enough he seemed to find what he was looking for. The book looked like a purple and black grimoire. He flipped pages of it before he stopped at one and turned to me. “here.” He turned to me, putting the book in my hands.

　　“This is a secret grimoire I’ve hidden. It contains one of the most powerful tracking spells to ever exist.”

　　This made me scoff at him, “I am definitely not sorry to burst your bubble old man, but I’ve already used tracking spells. None of the damn things worked.”

　　“No, you used a regular tracking spell,” the old man corrected. “no matter how much power you put into something like that, it is never going to be strong enough to track such a powerful object.”

　　He proceeded to point at the page he flipped at whilst looking at me. “This spell however, is far more powerful, aimed at tracking the most mysterious and powerful artifacts. Using this spell can be dangerous which is why it was banned and all books relating to it were destroyed. Except for this one of course.” The wizard stated, giving a smile and revealing his severely yellowed teeth. I didn't have time to sneer at the sight as I was enthralled in the book.

　　“All you have to do is think of whatever you’re looking for, visualize it clearly before chanting the spell. It is guaranteed to work.”

　　I looked at him skeptically, raising my eyebrow, “Are you sure?”

　　“Of course. You are the most powerful mage. If anyone can pull it off it will definitely be you.” The old man continued in his praises which made me roll my eyes, disgusted at his bootlicking attitude.

　　“Okay then.” I said, now analyzing the page itself. The book was written in ancient letters, the spell difficult to pull off. I knew how dangerous powerful spells could be, even for a trained wizard like me. Any misspelling or accident will lead to the spell not working, or worse, backfiring horribly. I needed to be careful.

　　Taking a deep breath I began to visualize the magic leaf. I visualized the tree and everything in it. Successfully having the image in mind, I opened my eyes and then began to chant the spell. As I chanted I felt pressure around me, as though numerous forces were working around me, equally trying to tear me apart as they were trying to put me together. I felt overwhelmed by the pressure but kept chanting, no matter how hard it got. Once I had reached the end I could no longer hold myself and shut my eyes to defend myself against the immense forces.

　　Soon enough the pressure lifted and all fell silent. I opened my eyes to see the old man staring at me.

　　“The spell is done. Now you can search for the leaf.”

　　I nodded in turn and left the old man’s house with a renewed vigor. I smiled at the thought of my plans finally succeeding.

　　Walking away from the wizard’s house, I make my way back into the forest wondering if anything is any different.

　　I become alert as I begin to smell a slight whiff of something. It was bitter, yet held a slight smell reminding me of darkness and pain. It was a venomous smell which I could vaguely remember. That only meant one thing.

　　I felt my spirits rise as I had concluded successfully. It was the scent of the forbidden leaf.

　　I follow the scent, passing trees and the forest, passing tree after tree to no avail. Time passed and I felt myself becoming more and more tired until I was led further to reach a huge clearing. There is nothing else but a small wooden shack which seems to be abandoned. I take another sniff and smile when I am able to trace the smell to the small building. A wicked smile curls up my face.

　　Jackpot.

　　BRITTANY.

　　I wake up to see the sun shining into the wooden shack. I squint whilst sitting up, adjusting to the light. I look to my side to see Damon, still dead asleep beside me. I take a moment to admire his wonderfully tousled hair and the contour of his body as he sleeps. I was sure that when he wakes up, he will be much more recovered. Yet I feel a bit of sadness as I imagine him not seeing me. I put the thought at the back of my mind as I begin to sense something. I looked around to see that everything was fine. There were no abnormalities.

　　So why did I feel like something was wrong?

　　I felt a somewhat strange feeling in my gut. For some reason, my eyes trace back to my quiver where I hid the forbidden leaf after Damon almost died through it. For a strange reason, I felt like someone was nearing it.

　　I closed my eyes and heard carefully what seemed to be rustling. It could just be the wind of course, or an animal passing by, but I could not take any chances. As quietly as I could, I went to the corner and took out my bow and quiver of arrows and walked near the entrance where my boots were and put them on.

　　I opened the door carefully.bow and arrow at the ready. My eyes widened as I saw Jake in front of me, a few meters away. Despite not knowing him personally, I could feel his evil intentions.

　　My instinctual suspicions were confirmed once I saw his eyes turn to the quiver where I had hidden the leaf.

　　“You.” he snarled before taking a step towards me.

　　I knew I had to act fast. I could not disturb Damon as he was still recovering and could not let Jake know Damon was here, so I had to get out of the house.

　　I quickly turned to my side and began to run away from the house.

　　Of course he wouldn’t let me go that easily. I felt my body halt under the influence of his power.

　　“You think you can hide it from me?” he asked mockingly. I felt my hackles rise at his words. I was going to make him pay for underestimating me.

　　I broke out of the spell, shooting an arrow which he deflected easily. Quickly setting up a plan, I shoot two more; one imbued with magic and another a decoy. He deflected the second but the first was able to graze his arm, slicing open the back of his hand. He looked incredulous as he hissed to look at the blood flowing out from the open wound. I could see the fury in his face.

　　“You’ll regret that witch.” He said before lifting his hand slightly. Suddenly all the arrows I shot previously rose up and turned, all pointing at me. I began to dodge skillfully as they all came at me, homing at my direction and following my movement.

　　One of them landed on a tree and the other two I dodged and they whizzed past me to land on another tree nearby.

　　I turned to him to see the annoyance on his face.

　　We fought for a while, with him sending magical attacks my way in the form of resending my arrows or trying to use magic to physically stop me. I resisted all of them and dodged every single attack that came my way, but I was already beginning to tire out. My moves were getting much sloppier and it was getting harder and harder to keep my guard up. Probably because he was mostly using magical attacks, he didn’t seem too drained.

　　Holding in an exhausted breath, I lifted my bow to shoot once more, but his attack hit me first.

　　He sent a blast of wind that I was unable to avoid. I lost grip of my bow and arrow and was pushed back to hit the back of a tree, the pain of impact pushing a breath out of me. I landed on the ground and felt the air push out of my lungs, my impact with the tree brought an ache in my head and a similar feeling in my back. I closed my eyes and tried to withstand the pain before looking forward.

　　I looked in horror to see that my quiver of arrows had toppled over, unveiling a pile of arrows and the forbidden leaf now lying on the open ground.

　　I saw the triumph in his eyes as he made his way towards it.

　　I knew there wasn’t a chance of winning. From the beginning of the fight I knew that my powers were not on par to his despite my best efforts. Furthermore, from the hit I received I was already too weak to move forward. He was already closing in on the leaf and there was no way I could reach it no matter how fast I went. With only one was out. I closed my eyes and whispered a spell focusing on the leaf.

　　Soon I heard him scream and looked to see him racked up in anger and confusion. I looked down at the spot where the forbidden leaf lay.

　　The forbidden leaf was gone. It had vanished, just like I wanted.

　　He focused his enraged eyes on me already aware of my actions. Despite knowing the consequences, I proceeded to give him a victorious smirk. I could see the rage fuel him more at the confirmation.

　　In a flash I saw him in front of me; his hands wrapped themselves around my neck, gripping tightly.

　　“You die today.” I hear his voice go to a low timbre, menacing and deadly. His eyes looked manic.

　　Despite knowing that I was already weakened, I scrambled to rip his hands off by digging and scratching mine onto his, knowing that it was to no avail. Black spots began to dance around my sight and I began to wonder if this was how I was going to die.