10. A Display of Magic
A Display of Magic
Aradia
Aradia rolled to her side and raced to the kitchen.
Where was her knife?
She reached inside the breadbasket and grasped the handle. Rage filled her down to the very marrow of her bones. How was it possible her entire life was crumbling around her — again?
A shriek of anger filled her home. Limbs covered in translucent scales shoved through the small window.
Long, bony fingers ending in claws cracked and splintered the wood, breaking a hole big enough to climb through.
Eyes of ink starred in her direction. A mouth with too many sharp teeth to count opened and let out a blood-curdling screech, bringing her to her knees.
Aradia let out a scream of her own as she covered her ears.
It shoved its body through the hole. The wood stabbed into its skin, drawing blood, but it did not faze the creature.
It moved as if it had less bones than it should.
Although the sickening crack of cartilage reverberated throughout her home as its bones shifted and popped to accommodate the small hole it squeezed through.
She lunged with her knife, slicing and stabbing at the limbs.
The monster reared back with a jerk, bringing its body away from her and back outside. Screams pierced through the broken entrance as it retreated to do gods-knows-what.
She raced toward her door.
Chaos surrounded her as she took in the city.
Homes, merchant carts, stables and taverns were lit with fire.
Men ran to and from the wells, trying to save their livelihood and stay alive.
The city watch fought creatures who attacked in a blur of white and sprayed blood.
Her neighbor's horse corral squeaked and groaned, burning in the flames, and spreading closer to her home.
Frantic neighs from horses stuck in their stalls reached her ears and she ran to open them. The gate singed her hand, and she gasped at the heat eating her palm. She kicked at the burned door, breaking it down.
“Go, git!” Her scream burned her throat with the inhale of smoke.
She didn’t bother to see if the horses were smart enough to run away from danger as she took off toward the well nearby. She dipped her hand in the cool water — a small respite from the tingling sensation of burnt flesh.
“Oh, Aradia! You're safe.” A woman hobbled over to her,
Aradia squinted between the smoke to identify her. “Ms. Oleynne? What’s happening?” she shouted over the chaos.
“They came out of nowhere,” Ms. Oleynne said. “Creatures of the night.” Tears streaked her soot-covered face and she limped heavily on her left leg. Blood had already begun to seep through her worn pants and her usual groomed hair blew wildly in the wind.
“Let me help you.” Aradia pointed to her leg. “We need to clean this.”
The woman pushed her hand away. “There’s no time. If you want to make yourself useful, help put out these fires.”
The bucket in her hand shook as Aradia ran toward the nearest fire.
The water did nothing to douse the spreading flames.
A flash of golden hair caught her attention as a lean figure scaled the rooftops before blending into the smoke and shadows.
The slice of a blade piercing flesh sounded behind her.
She turned with a terrifying yelp but was thrown to the ground by the stranger from the rooftops.
A creature leaped into the spot she stood only seconds ago.
The stranger’s movements were a blur of sharp blades and black leather.
The monster groaned before its body sliced apart where the blade cut like butter.
The stranger turned and Aradia drew back in surprise.
“Calia?” she whispered in shock.
A terrified cry rose from the crowd and she spun toward the familiar voice. Fear froze her in place as she watched one of the monsters rush toward a young girl a few yards away.
In full display, the creature was horrifying.
Pages of written stories on the creatures birthed into this realm by Ukoron swam through her mind.
These monsters were a sickly shade as if the sun hadn’t touched their skin in eons.
Every bone jutted out as it moved. From the angular skull to the rib cage, and even down to the bony limbs hanging by its side.
Blood squirted against its open chest and jaw as it gnawed on a kicking man. His screams silenced after a loud pop as the monster bit down on his head like a grape.
Aradia swayed on her feet. Vomit rose up her throat and belched from her lips without warning.
The creature could have been a human at one point in time.
It certainly took the form, but its face left no trace of humanity to be seen.
Eyes too beady, head too large, the lips were nonexistent and what used to be teeth were now sharpened to kill.
It squatted on its hind legs like a dog and ran on all fours with speed she had never seen the likes of.
She watched as the girl — No! Mareena, Quinn’s younger sister, sank to the ground, sobbing. Aradia squinted at what used to be a man in the monster’s death grip.
“Oh, gods,” she whispered.
Quinn’s father lay limp in the monster's arms. All that was left of him was his tattered uniform which indicated he was a guard in the city watch. Mareena grabbed a weapon and charged the creature in a futile attempt to save her dead father.
“Don’t!” Aradia’s voice was swallowed by the chaos and distance. “Stop!” A sob racked her as she frantically looked around. If Mareena was here, Quinn couldn’t be far away. Aradia sprinted for her. “Please, Please, Please,” she whispered through clenched teeth, but she was too far away.
Mareena’s hurried footsteps reached the creature’s ears as it turned with a roar. It reared back and with one swing of its long limbs, knocked Mareena twenty paces away. She crashed into a merchant cart and rolled to the ground. She did not move.
No.
“Marrrreee!” Quinn’s voice filled the air. High pitched and raw with terror.
Aradia dropped her empty bucket. Her head whipped around, searching for his familiar face.
“Quinn!” she screamed.
A monster streaked by her, crashing into a woman, sending her flying into Aradia’s side. The impact knocked her to the ground, stealing the breath from her lungs.
“Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods!” she panted.
Dirt caked her mouth. She inhaled specks of twigs and blood when she gasped underneath the dead weight of the woman. She pushed the woman, who rolled to the side and off Aradia’s chest.
“Quinn?” she wheezed.
Her heart dropped when she made eye contact with her best friend.
He grasped his father’s sword, brows dipping into willful determination.
Aradia shook her head, hoping he understood. “Don’t do it.”
She struggled to rise on legs too weak to hold her quaking body. Instead, slipped on someone’s outstretched arm, lying dead on the ground.
Quinn turned and ran toward a monster with a vengeance that broke her heart.
“No!” Aradia screamed, rushing forward. “Quinn, NO!”
She cast her arms out in warning but Quinn ran quicker. The weight of his father’s sword, teetering him left and right.
Aradia’s throat burned with unspoken words. In a blink of an eye, she could lose the closest person to her. She tried to warn him but no words escaped her. Her feet hit the ground in a blur as she covered the distance between them. Calia’s form flashed beside her but she hardly registered it.
The monster turned, squaring up against Quinn and readied itself to pounce. Quinn leaped over his father’s mutilated body and raised his sword.
No, no, no!
Aradia watched the creature lunge just as she neared him.
“QUINN!”
Aradia’s scream ripped from her lips and cracked her very soul.
Golden rays poured from within her, radiating in waves of pulsing light.
The burst flung Calia and all who were around her back.
In a flash of black dust, every creature disintegrated within reach.
The fires raging throughout the lower city were snuffed out and absorbed into her body, and with it the pain and suffering of the city.
Aradia was blind to the destruction around her as she lifted her head and screamed and screamed.
Her body grew heavy with the exertion and she crumpled to her knees.
She blinked, looking around. People rolled on the ground, groaning in pain or over loved ones.
Disoriented stares took in the city and to the one individual who had single-handedly saved them all.
She searched for Quinn who rocked his sister back and forth, tears streaming down his face.
His father’s discarded body was buried underneath ash and ichor. Quinn’s face was slack with loss, but his gaze froze on her, understanding and gratitude rippled through him in adrenaline shakes.
A twig snapped behind her and she spun on her knees. Calia’s shocked face came into view. The butt of a shovel whacked her forehead with a force which cracked her neck. Her face bit into the ground and her vision went dark.