(Warning: this is a really long read, make sure to commit before continuing)
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The trees danced and whispered in the gentle breeze blowing from the serene beach as the enchanting song of birds mingled with the soft, summer rays, bathing the scene in a shade of calm.
None of this could calm Rachel’s frustration.
“I told you a thousand times already, I have no use for any sort of fish, golden or not. Do I really look like a fishmonger to you?!”
The man stood there awkwardly, a recently caught Golden White Bass slung over his shoulder.
“The townsfolk say it’s really rar-”
“I don’t care if it was the rarest fish in the ocean I AM NOT BUYING THAT STUPID FISH!”
Her voice echoed off the nearby mountain, becoming lost in the breeze. The man was unfazed, standing there with the stillness of a statue. The only motion was that of his eyes, fixed on her through the shadow depth made by his mask.
“Would you buy a turtle?”
She threw he hands up in frustration. “ARE YOU SERIO- !! No, that’s it, i’m done.”
Turning back to her stock, she began to pack up. She knew better then to deal with anyone even remotely shady yet here she was, attempting to bargain with a man unwilling to even show his face, much less tell his name.
“Feel free to take your business elsewhere”, she called over her shoulder, moving to put her bag back on when she was suddenly slammed into a tree, instantly pinned.
“WHAT ARE YOU-” The man clamped his hand over her mouth.
“Hush and listen.”
Listen? To what? All Rachel could hear was the soft sigh of the wind accompanied by the low moan of . . . thunder?
Why is there thunder without rain? Unless. . .
Her eyes widened with realization just in time to see a bolt of blue lightning crash into the tree behind them, the force of the impact turning the tree to dust and sending her flying. She hits the ground violently, the impact causing her vision to blur as the taste of copper fills her mouth. Her body was stunned, small blue sparks racing through and over her body, causing her muscles to spasm.
Each breath she painfully managed to draw filled her nose with a sharp, pungent smell, like that of a burning wire.
Ozone
“It will probably be best if you run.”
She turned to see an area of blacked field, the same that appears after a lightning strike. The man himself stood in the same area he was in before, in the center of that field, his body covered in small burn marks but, besides that, unfazed.
“What do you mean-” her voice was drowned out by the unmistakable crackle of lightning as a ragged wizard stepped out of the forest bush, the blue sparks covering his hands making him the clear source of attack. His smile was cocky yet psychotic in a way only those obsessed with power manage to make. His eyes, filled with a hellish fury, were fixed on the man who faced him in turn. He raised his finger, jabbing the air as if to attack again, and laughed.
“You thought you could run, that you could escape, but I finally found you, you bastard.”
The crackling grew louder as the lightning covering his body grew in intensity, convening on his hands before forming into a pulsing magic circle.
The man only stood there, his free hand shifting to the sword placed on his back.
“Like I said before, run.”
Not knowing the man was addressing Rachel, the wizard screams in fury, his magic circle giving way to a dart of azure lightning. At the same instant, the man moves, turning his body before launching his now burnt, half destroyed Golden White Bass at the wizard, causing it to collide with the lightning in a jarring fulmination. Using the smoke as cover, the man draws his sword, launching himself at the wizard.
The wizard’s face, seeing his attack fail, contorts into that like a demon.
“DIE!!” he screams, rage echoing in every word as he proceeds to launch a volley of attacks at the fast approaching man.
The man was undaunted, maneuvering between the attacks as if they were moving like gold magic.
The distance between the two shrunk rapidly as the wizard’s barrage came to an end. The man, seeing the last attack, pivots on his foot and slashes the ball of electricity, catching it on his sword in a wide motion that turns him in a full circle. Utilizing his new momentum, he attacks the wizard with a now electrified blade.
The wizard fails to dodge completely, suffering a shallow slash on his abdomen. The wizard grunts as the electricity on the blade runs through his own body.
“Why you little- !” The wizard brought his hand forward with another magic circle only for the man to slash his hand, causing it to dispel.
Twisting the sword, he directed another slash at the wizards head, barely missing as the wizard dropped backward into a half formed squat. Forming a new magic circle, the wizard this time raises it in the air, causing a sphere of electricity to form around him.
The explosion catches the man too fast for him to block, sending him flying into a nearby tree, evidently knocking his breath clean out of him.
The wizard capitalizes on the chance, roaring as he gathers the rest of his energy and flings it at the man, hitting him squarely on the chest in a dust filled blast.
The wizard laughs, watching with cruel glee as the man falls to the ground.
Rachel was stunned at the action she just witnessed, overwhelmed with awe.
That is, until the wizard’s maniacal eyes landed on her.
He began walking towards her, is smile ever widening as a new magic circle formed on his hands. Terror, none like Rachel ever knew before, filled her instantly, causing her to scramble as she tried to get up, to run, to do anything before the wizard catched her.
Seeing her panic, the wizard grinned.
“Why the rush?”, his voice mocking as he pointed his magic at her.
“Aren’t you curious what it’s like getting pumped head to toe with lightning?”
Rachel’s fear reached new heights as threw her arms in front of her, trying to shield herself when she heard a chuckle float over from the man on the ground.
“You call those pathetic excuses for sparks lightning?”
The wizard whipped around as the man begun to get back up, his own body now covered in sparks, his own sparks, each one a bolt of brilliant purple zipping through his body with fear inducing power.
The wizard screamed, his desperation now evident as he threw his attack at the man.
The man raised his own hand, allowing for the lightning to gather in his palm before forming a circle almost as big as himself.
His mask, now cracked, showed his smirk as he released his power towards the wizards.
What followed next was difficult seemed to be that of a dream.
A roar like that of an ancient beast, like one may hear if they were to travel into the heart of a storm, blanketed the surrounding area as the lightning from the man absorbed the wizards attack before engulfing the wizard himself.
The sheer impact threw Rachel yet again, her vision turning black as she fell unconscious before ever hitting the ground.
:-----------------------------:
“Ma’am? Are you awake?”
Rachel’s eyes flew open, her vision spinning as her body surged upwarded, attempting to get to its feet. Steady hands quickly shot out and supported her .
“Whoa there, you shouldn’t try to get up so fast. You sustained a concussion and are going to need some treatment.”
Looking behind her, she finally found the source of the voice. A young man in his early twenties stood behind her, holding her upright. His face was shadowed in a signature green hood as he smiled at her.
A Magic Council scout.
Looking around her, she finally saw that the are had multiple scouts all over, investigating and studying the signs left behind by the fight.
The scout behind her let her go as she got her feet to be stable under her.
“We were tracking a dark wizard who had been on the rise in the outlaw community and the trail led us here. Do you know what happened?”
Her mind was foggy, aching from the concussion.
“Oh … uh … there was a man…selling stupid fish…fought the wizard who was right there…”
She pointed at where the dark wizard was, or where he was supposed to be, as there was no sign of him in any form, only a blackened, smoking crater.
Thanking you for reading! 
Here is a cookie 
I am open to any criticism you may have so please share.
If you read my other, noticeably smaller piece, you would be able to guess who the “mysterious” man was.
Really quickly, I don’t know how these work, but @Xael could use this to consider me for the seasoned writer tag? Thank you!