28. Wild, Untamed, and Violent – Rosemary #2
I didn’t dare move as the creature dropped back to the ground, his weight sending vibrations through the soles of my feet as the ground shook with it.
My fingers twitched, shifting slowly toward the blade at my hip until I held its hilt tightly in my hand.
I lifted the insignificant dagger between us, my arm shaky but my grip fierce.
Ready to fight, knowing I’d likely die. I wouldn’t leave Elias, even as his crumpled form still lay completely motionless.
The unaki charged, its massive paws thundering against the ground.
Instinctively, I bent and twisted away just in time, narrowly avoiding its jagged teeth aimed at my throat.
It brushed past too closely, its needle-like fur slicing my shoulder, tearing through my dress and the strap of my pack.
Pain flared under my skin. I hissed and dropped my pack.
There was no time to retrieve it; the unaki was already prowling forward again.
I treaded backward, step-by-step, putting more distance between this monstrous creature and Elias’s broken form.
It stalked toward me, its tongue dragging across its maw as if it could already taste me.
Its eyes never left mine as I backed away.
Light filtered from the sky above, painting the earth in its golden hues as the sun rose.
It didn’t bother with its invisibility as it hunted me, letting me see the horror headed my way.
With a final glance toward Elias, I silently prayed for his forgiveness. I’m sorry that I wasn’t strong enough, sorry that I dragged you into this with me, sorry that we’ll both likely die here today. Then I closed my eyes, my hands held out to my sides as I accepted my fate.
No. No! My brow furrowed a second later as a strength I hadn’t known filled me.
I accepted nothing. I was tired of accepting things, tired of my never-ending duty, tired of the promises I’d made as a child so long ago.
I had never asked for anything for myself, but as Elias’s still form flashed within my mind, I realized I would ask for him.
My eyes snapped open, and I adjusted my grip on the dagger, letting my toes dig into the earth at my feet as I demanded nature’s aid.
The monster charged. Magic cracked, and the smell of dewy grass and something else, something wild and untamed, sizzled through the air.
It felt familiar, and I let it fill me as I harnessed it, my body vibrating with the power of it.
Excruciating pain exploded within every vein as I held onto that power; each vein stretching with the glow of a brilliant white light as that power raced through me.
My gaze locked onto the unaki, my lips twitching upward as I dared it to attack.
But it never came. I watched in horror as the unaki twisted at the last moment.
It pounced, its massive body falling through the air in a heavy arc headed straight for my pack.
I jolted forward, but it was already too late.
Its jaws clamped down onto the remaining strap, and his head shook side-to-side until the fabric and everything within it had been shredded, broken, and lost.
All that I had collected, every plant and herb and ingredient…
gone. My journals, my sketches, every bit of information I’d gathered, torn and scattered.
The daemonacus flower, the very ingredient I’d risked everything for, that Briar desperately needed, lay in shredded pieces, drifting away in the morning breeze.
The magic I'd been hoarding, the power that had felt so elusive and unpredictable, suddenly roared to life within me.
Rage and desperation unlocked something primal, something that had nothing to do with gentle healing and everything to do with raw, untamed force.
I screamed, the sound tearing from my throat like a prayer made of rage.
For a heartbeat, time crystallized. I smelled the damp earth beneath my feet, felt the rough bark of the tree against my palm, and heard Herb's distant, frantic cawing.
Then every ounce of power I'd been unconsciously hoarding exploded outward.
The magic felt like coming home and being torn apart simultaneously.
It smelled of my mother's garden after rain, tasted of the healing teas I'd brewed in our kitchen, carried the warmth of every gentle touch I'd ever given.
But it roared with the fury of storms, of wildfire, of the earth itself when pushed too far.
It exploded out of me, hitting the unaki with a force that threw us both back.
But as my magic tore through the unaki, something unexpected happened.
Instead of simply destroying the creature, my power seemed to absorb something from it.
Dark energy flowed back into me, foreign and cold, settling somewhere deep in my chest like a seed waiting to sprout.
I pushed the sensation aside, focusing on Elias, but I could feel it there, a new kind of magic that didn't belong to me.
I hit the tree behind me so hard, I felt my back crack.
The magical backlash left me hollow and shaking, as if I'd poured out not just my power but pieces of my very soul.
This wild magic came with a cost I was only beginning to understand.
As I blinked away the pain, I watched the raw magic, the power that I had demanded from the earth, consume the unaki.
The wild arcs of light snapped around its form, pressing into its prickled skin until it imploded into nothingness.
My head lulled, and the darkness claimed me next.