Chapter Text
1.
Max Blunder, the one & only and the best apprentice cleric ever, was having an abysmal day.
Rufus, his mentor had had him trying and failing to make water in an empty mug for the past 5 hours.
Each time Max had tried with all his might, visualising the water, saying the necessary prayer and wishing, but like all other times he'd tried, not even a drop had formed.
It had come to a point that even the ever patient Rufus had a subtle twitch in his eye from a mixture of irritation and exasperation.
When the supper bell rang, Max had decided he was done and that water creation was a stupid technique that he never wanted to use ever, before storming off to calm his mind before his eggs on a stick.
The circus was currently stoped next to the town of Dreake, which was home to the largest and most beautiful lake in the kingdom. And it was here that Max was stomping off his frustrations, attempting backflips to hopefully disrupt has dark mood, but failing yet again each time.
The glint of the gorgeous lake had been a blessing earlier in the week, but it had transformed over the course of the day into a taunt meant to punish him.
He stormed further down the well trodden path, straying further away from the laughing waves of the lake.
Max happened across a large oak tree, the pinkness of the sky now dusk had it reflecting beautifully off the wide leaves.
Max bent down to sit against the broad trunk, contemplating the meaning of his life, why had he joined the circus, was was he even bothering being a cleric?
As his question rattled his mind his eyes drew further and further closed and before he knew it he was asleep.
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When Max's eyes next opened it was firmly night, the brisket wind chilling his limbs as he tried to move after a long rest.
He wanders through the path, trying to remember where he came from, his recall made more difficult by the night sky shadowing the path.
Max stumbles in the dark, not seeming to get anywhere familiar as he trips on rocks and roots. His average height making him too tall to see the rough terrain in the dark, but too short to glimpse above the treeline.
After what seemed like hours of tripping and falling while starving, Max sits exhausted on a nearby boulder, tears beading up in his eyes.
The beginnings of tears almost leaked out of his eyes but before they could fall properly he assaulted by a duck slamming into his striped face.
The force of the feathered fiend colliding with his face knocked Max on his bum, the mischievous foul now stood atop his head like a featherd, foolish crown.
As Max attempts a backflip to stand up (failing miserably, yet again) the duck's webbed feet somehome clinging on to his blonde hair, now squawking up a storm.
Max shakes his head rapidly, pushing the foul off his head, before picking up the pace. The duck, not one to gice up so soon, catches up to him and snatches his ear in its beak, the pinch causing Max to help out in pain.
" argh get off me you flying vermin, I am not a fresh plate of eggs for you to gobble down! Get off me!"
The duck with tremendous and abnormal strength starts dragging him by his pointed ear, wings flapping and beak snapped shut firmly.
After 10 minutes of wrestling with a flipping duck Max tries for the millionth time today to create water, in the hopes of scare the feathered beast off. Max breathes in deeply, eyes closed, he visualised the water, praying silently and wishing with all the might of his regular sized form, and this time it works!
A wave of calm washes over Max and at the same time, about a handful of fresh water splashes on the duck. This forces it to let go of his ear but at the same time splashing water into his own eyes, forcing them closed. With his eyses closed, Max doesn't see the subtle yellow glow that surrounds the duck when the spell activates. Nor does he notice the foul disappearing from view without even a flap of its wings.
When Max opens his eyes next, he was at the edge of a treeline, his circus in full view with Rufus calling his name.
When he looked around, the only sign a duck had even been present was the slight throbbing of his pointed ears...