>> CHAPTER 08: The Witch's Tower
Six days had passed since the intense training in the forest.
During that time, Radan honed his control over his telekinesis. He could now better gauge the force, reduce energy expenditure, and maintain flight for hours without feeling his body weigh so much.
The igloo he had built had become his fixed shelter — cold on the outside, but cozy inside, thanks to the constant fire and the walls reinforced with compacted snow.
That morning, the wind was calm. The clear sky reflected bluish tones over the white immensity of the snow.
Radan left the igloo and breathed deeply the icy air. He closed his eyes, feeling each suspended particle vibrate lightly with the touch of his energy. A small smile formed on his face.
"Well... it's time to test some attacks on demonic beasts." he murmured.
He took off with lightness, without effort.
His body moved with precision, as if the air accepted him.
Floating above the trees, Radan expanded his telekinetic sense, sweeping the surroundings little by little.
It was like opening his eyes in several directions at the same time — he felt the weight of the trunks, the movement of the branches, and the heat of the small animals hidden under the snow.
"No demonic beast around here..." he thought, observing everything around.
But then, something changed.
A distant point caught his attention... a magical presence, strong, dense, and irregular.
It was about thirty meters to the north.
The energy flow was unstable, wild... definitely not human.
A demonic beast.
Radan descended slowly to the clearing, feeling the cold wind hit his face. A few meters from him, an enormous creature walked over the snow.
It had the body of a bear, but twice the size of a common one. Two heads moved independently, both with long fangs and eyes shining in deep red tones. On its back, black scales mixed with the thick fur, reflecting the sunlight in metallic tones. Curved horns grew over the foreheads of the two heads, forming a kind of irregular crown.
Radan observed it in silence, analyzing the details.
"These beasts are always a biological puzzle..." he murmured, floating a few centimeters above the ground. "Bear, reptile, and maybe something demonic in the middle of all that. No natural structure should work like this... but here it does."
He thought looking at such a creature, but this time without showing fear or surprise... just focus.
Suddenly then its enormous heads turned and looked directly into his eyes.
The beast had noticed him.
The two heads stared at him, and the air began to vibrate with the deep roar that came from their double throats.
"Alright... it looks strong. Let's see how much it can take."
"Let's begin the test."
Radan extended his hand and, in the blink of an eye, one of the nearby trees was uprooted from the ground. The roots detached with a dry snap, and the snow around exploded to the sides. The trunk floated in front of him, spinning slowly.
With a precise movement of the mind, he began to scrape the surface. Fragments of wood detached at high speed, cutting the air with a sharp sound — shhh, shhh, shhh — until the tip of the trunk became sharp like a giant spear.
Meanwhile, the demonic beast advanced. Each step made the ground tremble. The two heads roared in unison, and the sound echoed throughout the forest. The creature opened its jaws, showing long teeth covered by a dark saliva that fell in thick drops over the snow.
Radan kept his gaze firm.
The trunk, now sharp, began to spin with force in the air, creating a heavy hum that cut the wind. The sound resembled that of an old engine, but it was pure telekinetic movement.
"Let's see if this is enough."
In the instant the beast leaped, he launched the trunk.
The projectile crossed the air in a perfect straight line, accelerated by an invisible force. The speed was so great that the air around distorted, and the snow was pushed back as if an explosion had occurred.
The impact came a second later.
The trunk pierced the creature's chest, perforating it from side to side. A muffled sound echoed through the forest. The two heads roared in pain for a brief instant before the body collapsed heavily, raising a cloud of snow and dust.
Silence.
Radan landed slowly, observing the beast's motionless body. The trunk still vibrated stuck in the ground, covered by a dark and thick liquid that dripped from the wound.
He breathed deeply.
"Control, precision, and linear force... perfect."
He knelt for a moment, observing the result. "If I can repeat this type of attack without so much energy expenditure, this could be a quick kill technique."
He looked at the trunk embedded in the ground. The wood still vibrated lightly, and the mark left by the impact force showed how much energy had been used. Radan frowned.
"But it still takes time to prepare the attack… and the mana consumption isn't small."
He passed his hand over his chin, thoughtful. "When I return to the Frontier Village, I'll need to create some specific weapons to use with telekinesis. Something light, aerodynamic, but that maintains the impact… maybe floating blades, spears or metal discs."
He raised his gaze again to the horizon. "But I doubt all of them die so easily like this."
Radan then stood up, cleaning the snow from his coat with a simple gesture, and floated back above the trees.
"Speaking of the Frontier Village..." he murmured, looking at the white horizon that stretched as far as the eye could see. "Today is the day I should return. It's been six days here alone. I don't know how things are going over there."
He paused, letting the cold wind hit against his face.
"But before returning... since I said I was going hunting, it's better to bring something to justify. Besides, food there is worth gold. If I can get some good cuts of meat, I can sell and get some coins."
With that in mind, Radan began to fly over the forest in search of signs of life. His telekinetic sense expanded like silent waves, crossing trees and snow, capturing the smallest movements. After a few minutes, he detected a group of snow deer, large and with white fur, grazing near a frozen stream.
"Perfect," he murmured.
He descended slowly, staying out of the animals' field of vision. With subtle gestures, he concentrated his energy and launched a quick and precise impulse. In a few seconds, four deer were taken down — clean blows, without causing pain or mess.
Radan approached, examining the bodies with a calm gaze. "Four are enough. If I bring more, it'll seem strange."
With some movements of his hand, pieces of branches and vines began to join in the air, molding themselves under his telekinesis until forming a firm structure — an improvised sled of compacted wood and hardened snow.
"This should hold the weight," he commented, testing the balance with a light mental touch.
Soon, the deer bodies were placed on the sled, and the set began to float smoothly a few centimeters above the ground.
"Done. This way no one will suspect anything. Just a hunter returning from the forest with luck and good aim."
Radan then prepared to leave, adjusting the floating sled behind him. But before following, he decided to launch his telekinetic sense one last time — just as a precaution.
His energy spread through the environment, running through the forest in invisible waves. For a few seconds, everything seemed normal — the distant sound of the wind, the stable weight of the trees, the quietness of the snow.
But then something different appeared in his perception.
About fifty meters to the north, an unusual shape stood out in the middle of the snow-covered woods. Radan frowned, narrowing his gaze.
"This... isn't natural," he murmured.
His sense outlined the contour of an ancient stone structure, partially covered by roots and ice. It seemed like a tower — not very tall, but solid, as if it had been built a long time ago and forgotten there.
However, what really caught his attention wasn't the construction itself, but what he felt coming from it.
A light trace of magical power. Extremely weak.
"Interesting..." He murmured, touching his chin thoughtfully, imagining that that tower seemed very ancient and that it seemed to have been there for a long time.
Radan gave a sigh and looked back in the direction of the village. He could simply ignore that and return — after all, he was already tired and with low energy.
But curiosity spoke louder.
"Well… a small detour before returning won't kill me."
With a light impulse, he began to float silently towards the tower, the sled and the deer remaining stopped behind, as if waiting for his return.
The snow hissed under the wind, and the air around seemed denser as he approached. The magical trace became clearer and clearer, almost like a distant beat, calling his attention to inside that ancient structure.
Radan landed in front of the tower. The stones were covered by frozen moss, and cracks ran through the walls like ancient veins. The entrance was narrow and dark, but he didn't need to enter to know what was inside there.
He closed his eyes and expanded his telekinetic sense. Invisible waves ran through the interior of the tower, revealing every detail as if he saw everything with his own eyes.
There was a narrow staircase — a path that led both to the upper floor and to the basement.
On the upper floor, he perceived only wreckage: broken furniture, remains of rotten wood and the silence of time.
But when he directed the sense to the basement… something made him frown.
Down there, the walls were illuminated by strange bright yellow stones, attached to supports on the walls as if they were ancient lamps. The energy they emanated was weak, but constant, pulsing in an almost organic rhythm.
And then, a sound crossed his mind.
A scream:
"HELP!"
Weak, muffled, loaded with despair... A plea for help, from a feminine voice that cut the silence of the tower like a blade.
Radan immediately concentrated the sense, deepening it to the limit. What he saw made him open his eyes, surprised.
In the center of an underground chamber, five stone statues surrounded something — or someone. Inside the circle, a human figure was standing, completely enveloped by a layer of transparent ice, like a crystalline coffin.
The ice seemed to pulse lightly with magical energy. Clearly indicating that it wasn't normal ice.
Radan narrowed his gaze, guiding his sense inside the structure. The resistance was strong, but he forced passage, crossing the layers of energy until reaching the interior.
As soon as he succeeded he felt:
Weak heartbeats… slow, but clearly present.
And along with them, a living magical aura, powerful and icy, as if the ice that trapped her breathed along with her.
"A woman..." He murmured, intrigued.
"No… a witch."
Radan stayed there for another instant, suspending the air around as one who holds his breath. Then, without hesitating, he entered the tower and descended the staircase in light steps. The yellow light of the stones on the walls cast trembling shadows; the underground chamber seemed like a deep throat.
As he approached, he heard again the sound that before seemed to come from the ice — but now it became clear: it wasn't the witch who screamed. The voice came from a red stone, shining on a support beside the circle.
Carefully, he made the stone float to in front of him. He wasn't going to pick it up with his hands — that could be anything. Keeping the stone a few centimeters away, he spun it slowly with telekinesis, studying texture, shine and heat. The surface had no heat of its own. There was no vapor, nor obvious radioactivity — just a weak magical pulse, and the voice still echoed, muffled, from inside it.
"Magic," he murmured, short. "Simple and direct."
He left the stone where it was, landing it back. It wasn't time to unravel the source of the voice; first he needed to take care of what was there inside. He turned his gaze back to the witch in the ice coffin.
She was indeed extraordinary. Pale skin, serene face despite the suffering, long light blue hair falling over her shoulders. The white dress with golden threads seemed like something noble — fine sewing, embroideries that, even covered by the ice, maintained an air of royalty. Radan realized that there wasn't just a person trapped: there was someone important.
Around, the five statues rose imposingly.
Each one almost three meters, muscular, guard posture. The faces resembled a goat — not for cruelty, but for features: short snout, discreet horns. The strange detail were the "masks" over the mouth, attached by fittings that followed through tubes to metallic cylinders on the backs of the statues.
"What the hell is this?" thought Radan, and the phrase repeated in silence.
Without answers to his questions, he concentrated again on the woman who was
alive there. He thought about how he would get her out of that place. He considered taking the coffin to the Frontier Village and asking Anna for help, but discarded it quickly: he didn't know if Anna had already awakened, nor if she would be well enough for that.
Then he began to think about how he himself would do this:
Total vibration wasn't an option, a strong wave would destroy that block in an instant. But a wave like that was too violent — it could shatter the ice from inside, launch precise fragments into her body and kill her. He couldn't risk that.
Radan breathed deeply and cleared his mind. He needed something finer. Something controlled.
"Ok… nothing that's brute. That doesn't break, and doesn't burst. Just heat slowly." He murmured to himself.
Closing his eyes he brought to mind the smallest image he could: not trunks, nor blocks — but individual water molecules.
As an engineer, he obviously knew that heat is movement; if you increased the agitation of the molecules, the temperature would rise. Only that, instead of heat by flame, it would have to be heat by microscopic movement.
Telekinesis, could push things — why not push tiny things?
He knew this was possible. Because on his first day in this world, he managed to ward off the cutting cold that greeted him as soon as he awoke: with his telekinesis, creating a dome of force around himself, pushing the frozen air and forming a kind of heat bubble around the body.
So if he managed to manipulate the entire air at that moment to ward off the cold, manipulating water molecules on a microscopic scale to soften the ice didn't seem so different — just more delicate and required much more precision.
Decided, he began slowly: Adjusting his "radar" telekinetic to the molecular level, an effort of concentration that hurt a little in the eyes. Sensing the ice not as a single block, but as layers and networks of bonds, each layer with diminutive resistance.
With an intense focus, Radan began to act. His hands moved slowly, but each mental gesture hit billions of molecules at the same time, transmitting enough kinetic energy to make the ice around the witch's body yield gradually. There was no real heat, but each molecule vibrated faster, releasing the rigidity of the ice crystal without cracking it or hurting the trapped woman.
Layer by layer, the ice coffin began to become translucent, as if melting from the inside out, until finally the outer structure yielded enough for him to touch it safely. Using his telekinesis, he carefully lifted the still unconscious witch, keeping her floating in front of him.
Radan placed her carefully on the ground, feeling the fragility of the woman even unconscious. Her body was light, and her
blue hair fell softly over the white dress with golden details, which shone with the weak light emanating from some magical light stones of the tower.
He took a step back and sat beside her, exhausted. The effort to manipulate the ice molecules had consumed more than half of his magical power.
"Damn… I can't leave now. We won't make it to the Frontier Village just flying non-stop." he murmured to himself, observing the fainted witch. "I'll have to rest a few hours… just enough to make the trip without mishaps." He said closing his eyes and resting.
While sitting there, Radan maintained a minimal telekinetic field around them, like an invisible protection bubble. Not just to keep them safe from any external danger, but also to not waste energy. The silence of the tower was heavy, interrupted only by the sound of the wind hitting the walls.
For a few hours, nothing else mattered besides breathing, feeling the remaining energy stabilize and mentally preparing for the journey he would still have to face.
....