Chapter 248: A Dark Beginning Part 2

 

  The rainforest was bathed in a blanket of ash as the flames of Mount Mov’s eruption billowed across the mountainside. Ash rained down from the darkened sky and drifted down into the rushing river. 

  Six canoes filled with children floated down the river. They had been down the river before, but never without the adults. The elders and soothsayers had told them to go on ahead, that they would catch up eventually. But as the flames began to overtake the trees near the shore, Aqila worried that the adults might have gotten caught in the fire.

  Aqila tried her best to paddle the canoe down the river while trying to appear like she knew what she was doing. She had never steered a canoe before, there had never been a need. But she was fifteen and the eldest among the children, which meant the soothsayers had placed her in charge of watching over the other children.

  Aqila glanced back at the other five canoes behind her and the haggard children huddled together, most of them crying. How could she ever hope to watch over this? In just a single morning they had lost their villages, many of them their families. Aqila was one of the lucky few who still had both her parents, but they were still back up the river, coming soon, hopefully.

  Please come soon, Aqila whispered a silent prayer.

  She couldn’t lead these kids, she was just a kid herself. She just wanted to go home… but there was no home, not anymore. She closed her eyes tight and tried her best not to cry, she needed to be strong right now, if not for herself then for the other three children in her canoe.

  Duncan sat with his knees up and his arm around his little sister, Emma. Duncan was thirteen, his silver horns had barely begun to grow in. Emma was nine or eight, Aqila couldn’t recall. The little girl had always been running around their village giggling with her friends. Emma’s smile was gone now, her eyes filled with tears. Their parents hadn’t been seen at the rendezvous point upriver. No one has seen them since this morning. Still, Duncan and Emma held hope, albeit wrapped around a bundle of fear and worry.

  “Duncan… I need your help paddling,” Aqila said.

  “Huh? Oh, yeah…” he nodded and grabbed the other paddle.

  “Aqila, where is everyone else?” Emma asked with a small voice.

  “Like I told you, they're coming,” Aqila tried to smile.

  “Mom and dad too, right?” Emma bit her lip.

  Aqila swallowed and nodded weakly, “Yeah, definitely.”

  “I knew it,” Emma smiled in relief. “I knew they would come. I bet your parents are coming too,” she glanced at the last child in their canoe.

  He was a small boy, about as old as Emma. He was from one of the neighboring villages. They had seen him once or twice in the occasional festivals, but they didn’t even know his name. The other canoes were full, so he had simply been put in with the three of them.

  The small boy hadn’t said a single word. The moment he had stepped into the canoe, he had gone into the other end of the boat and huddled there by himself. There were no tears in his green eyes, but they were dull, almost lifeless. He held something close to his chest, but he kept it hidden underneath his ragged cloak.

  Aqila was the granddaughter of one of the village soothsayers. She had helped her grandmother with funeral rites before, she had seen death before… Aqila knew what pain and loss looked like, the feeling of rejection and disbelief one felt at the death of a loved one. But the look in the boy’s eyes was neither anger nor disbelief, it was grim acceptance.

  “Um, I’m Emma. This is my big brother, Duncan. What’s your name?” Emma asked restlessly.

  The small boy ignored Emma’s words and simply stared out into the rushing waters.

  “Hey, my sister is talking to you, the least you can do is tell us your name,” Duncan glared at him.

  The small boy slowly looked up at Duncan, as if registering his voice for the first time.

  “Leave him alone, Dunc. If he doesn’t want to talk, he doesn’t have to,” Aqila said.

  Duncan frowned, “But-”

  “No buts, keep paddling,” Aqila snapped. Her expression grew soft, “I don’t want to fight, not today.”

  Duncan nodded silently and kept paddling.

  Emma stared at the small boy with the unending curiosity of a child. “Hi,” she waved her tiny hand.

  “...Hi?” the boy said hesitantly.

  “What is that?” Emma craned her neck and tried to peer past his ragged cloak.

  The boy raised his arms as if to protect himself and curled up at the edge of the canoe.

  Aqila clicked her tongue, “Emma, I said leave him be-”

  A shivering roar echoed across the river. The dark god burst from the edge of the river behind them. Its ape-like legs waded through the water as it beat its chest with crystalline-scaled arms. The god’s violet eyes settled on the six canoes in the distance and its feline mouth pulled back in a vicious smile.

  The children cried out in terror and panic at the sight of the thirty-foot monstrosity. A few of the children jumped out of their canoes and tried swimming to shore, but were washed away by the river.

Emma screamed, a painful ear-throbbing screech. The small boy whimpered quietly and curled into a fetal position.

  “Keep paddling! Dunc!” Aqila yelled at the top of her lungs.

  The paddle slipped out of Duncan’s trembling hands. He turned to Aqila, desperate for some sort of hope.

  The dark god leaped into the sky and crashed down into the canoes. The river exploded in a wave of destruction, the water rippling out in giant waves, sweeping out a hundred paces. The children’s screams died, their voices silenced beneath the waters. Shards of wood the size of an arm drifted across the river in a mixture of blood and sand.

  In the span of a breath the canoes had all been destroyed, save for the one at the front. The crashing wave had propelled the canoe forward. Miraculously the canoe hadn’t capsized under the ensuing onslaught of raging waves. It had taken every ounce of strength Aqila had to hold Emma and Duncan from falling overboard.

  The small boy cried out in surprise as the waters slammed into him and swept him away. His ragged cloak caught on the canoe’s bow. The boy clung to the boat’s hull desperately.

  “Hold on!” Aqila yelled.

  “I got her! Go!” Duncan shouted and held his little sister tight.

  Aqila gripped the wooden beams between the canoe and pulled herself towards the other end of the canoe. The small boat spun and swayed as the water pelted down and around them. Aqila gritted her teeth and squinted, trying to see through the water. She spotted the little boy dangling at the edge of the canoe and reached out with her arm.

  Aqila’s fingers wrapped around his wrist. “I’ve got you!” she yelled. “I’ve got you!” She threw back her weight and slammed down into the canoe, pulling the boy with her. They stayed on the floor of the canoe as it rocked back and forth until the waters settled back down.

  “...Are you okay,” Aqila huffed tiredly.

  “...Mm,” the boy nodded faintly.

  The dark god’s eyes widened in mild surprise at the sight of the surviving canoe. It charged at them, bounding through the river with ease.

  “Oh, gods! Aqila, it’s coming back!” Duncan cried desperately.

  A javelin of flames splashed on the god’s back. Not a single hair on its white fur had been burnt, but the monster roared in indignation and spun around searching for the attacker.

  Yara flickered onto the canoe in a burst of orange sparks. The children cried out in shock and stumbled back.

  “Shut up, I’m here to save your sorry asses!” Yara snapped.

  “W-who are you!” Duncan asked fearfully and pulled Emma close.

  Aqila’s eyes widened with recognition, “You’re that tall woman who was talking to my nana this morning.”

  Yara stared at Aqila’s face and silver horns, “I can see the similarities... Your grandmother was a brave one.”

  “Was…?” Aqila’s voice cracked.

  The dark god bellowed in a deep guttural language, its words lost to them, but the intent was clear, it wanted them dead. 

  “Help us!” Duncan yelled desperately. “Kill it with magic!”

  “Pft! Are you kidding me!? I can’t beat that!” Yara laughed.

  The dark god roared in agreement and ran at them on all fours.

  “Save us!” Emma cried.

  Yara’s shoulders slumped, “Honestly, what am I even doing here? I can’t beat this thing.” She looked into the fearful eyes of the children and swallowed. Her lips curled in a shaky smile, “But let’s give it a try.” 

  “I just invented a new spell the other day… Maybe that might work,” Yara laughed nervously.

  “Maybe!?” Aqila yelled anxiously.

  “Do you know how hard it is to create a new spell!?” Yara channeled orange mana into her hands, pouring as much mana as she could manage into her fingertips. She aimed her open palms towards the dark god, a seed of blue flames screeched into existence between her hands. “Azure Flower!” 

  The seed exploded in a flood of sapphire light, the flames devoured the water and air. The river erupted in a bloom of steam all around the canoe. The burning forest paled amidst the raging azure inferno.

  The dark god raised its arms, the violet scales darkened and shivered with power. The azure flames flowed around the dark god and coalesced into a blue seed above its scaled arms. The dark god turned to Yara and laughed darkly.

  Yara’s eyes widened in panic, “Oh shit, I was wrong. I was very wrong!”

  The dark god lunged and flung the flame spell back at its caster.

  Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Yara watched the flood of flames burn towards them. The ancient monster could manipulate a mage’s spells, she had never stood a chance. It was time to admit she was in over her head and flicker away. 

  Yara turned her neck and glanced back at the children’s terrified faces. They would die, be consumed in a single instance of heat and magic. Their pain would be over quickly. She had seen life extinguished in such a manner plenty of times before, this was no different. Life moved on, at least, hers did.

  So why… Why couldn’t she just run?

  What was she doing? The size alone… She’d be drained, escape would be impossible. But she couldn’t… she couldn’t just sit by… not again…

  “Not one more fucking time!” Yara screamed. She threw her arms out and grabbed both sides of the canoe’s hull. 

  Orange light suddenly consumed the boat and exploded in a burst of sparks. Azure flames burned through the empty river. The dark god narrowed its eyes and roared in frustration.

  The canoe flickered into existence several dozen paces away below a few unburnt trees near the shore. The hull slammed into the ground sending Yara and the children careening out. Yara spun in the air and landed on her two feet softly. The children hadn’t fared as well, they had slammed and crashed into the hard-packed earth with a solid thud.

  “Is everyone okay?” Yara called out. She suddenly grimaced, as a sharp pain stabbed into her head. She had never flickered such a large volume before and the backlash was hitting her harder than ever. Her vision began to darken and she fell to one knee.

  The children groaned in pain, their first flicker taking a toll on their young bodies. Emma vomited and Duncan followed a second after. Aqila held her ribs and coughed weakly. 

  The small boy swayed unsteadily to his feet and patted his ragged cloak. His eyes widened with fear and he looked around frantically. “W-where are you!?” he mumbled desperately.

  “Get up, all of you!” Yara said between labored breaths. “We need to go before that monster finds us!”

  Aqila grimaced, but she clenched her hands and pushed herself up. “Duncan, Emma, get up, please,” she pleaded.

  Duncan wiped the vomit from his mouth and helped his little sister to her feet, “Come on, Emma, we have to go find mom and dad.”

  Emma nodded weakly, but tears still streamed down her golden-yellow cheeks.

  “There you are!” The small boy spotted something tiny below a nearby bush and stumbled his way to it.

  A loud roar reverberated above them. The dark god crashed down from the canopy and smashed into the ground, sending chunks of dirt and stone flying. The children screamed and floundered their way to Yara. 

  Yara wrapped her arms around the children and took a deep breath. She wasn’t sure she could manage another flicker spell, but she had to try. “Hold on tight,” she said in a bleak whisper.

  “Wait!” Aqila cried out and pointed to a nearby bush.

  “Oh shit,” Yara’s face paled. She hadn’t noticed, one child was missing.

  The small boy was a dozen paces away, crouched under a bush, his hands rummaging underneath. The dark god’s attention had been on Yara and the others, but at Aqila’s panicked voice, it shifted its violet eyes towards the ignorant boy.

  Yara didn’t hesitate. She jumped past the other children and flickered herself to the small boy. She appeared above him in a burst of orange sparks. With one swift motion Yara wrapped her arms around the boy and flickered. But the spell failed. She cried out in pain as her muscles clenched and spasmed from the backlash.

  Work, dammit work! Yara thought furiously.

  The dark god raised his arms and slammed them down with a loud bash of violet light. 

  Yara opened her eyes hesitantly. She wasn’t dead. The flicker spell had worked? But where was she? All she could see was a red membrane-like dome around her. She turned around and frowned in confusion. The bush was still right next to her. 

  The flicker spell hadn’t worked?

  “What the…?” Yara muttered and looked down at the small boy in her arms.

  He cradled something tiny in his arms that Yara couldn’t quite make out.

  The small boy’s green eyes were still dull but there was a faint smile on his face. “I found you,” he whispered into his arms.

  “What is that?” Yara stepped back uncertainly. “And what the fuck is on your back!?”

  “Hm?” the small boy looked up and tilted his head back. “Oh…?”

  A red wing protruded from between his shoulders and stretched around them like a domed shield. As soon as the boy noticed, the wing unfurled and shriveled away.

  The dark god stood above them, a look of surprise across its feline features. It growled angrily and slammed its arm down on them.

  “Kid, move!” Yara screamed.

  The small boy stared curiously at the giant scaled-arm falling above him. He placed one foot behind him, pulled his arm back, and swung. A boom of sound echoed as his fist collided into the giant arm. The purple scales shattered in an explosion of blood and bone. The dark god went flying back, its body crashing into dozens of trees.

  Yara’s jaw went slack at the impossible sight.

  The small boy’s face was expressionless, his green eyes almost lifeless, but he moved with determination. His legs shifted and transformed, the golden-yellow skin around his legs turned dark blue as his ankles shifted up and his knees jutted backward like a cat’s. Before Yara could speak, the small boy had disappeared in a blinding flash of speed that made her agility magic seem like a mere parlor trick.

  The small boy appeared in front of the dark god and simply stared at it. “Why are you trying to kill us?”

  The god bared its fangs and spoke in a deep unfamiliar language. 

  “Because you’re angry?” The boy tilted his head to the side, “That’s not a very good answer. I mean, I don’t really mind, I guess…? But you killed someone you weren’t supposed to, I think.”

  The dark god cradled its shattered arm and roared in defiance.

  Two grey tails slipped out of the boy’s back, each with a sharp blade-like black tip. The dark god jumped back to escape, but the boy’s tails snapped forward and the wind cracked with a boom. The dark god’s body fell apart in a dozen slabs of flesh and bone, black blood raining down all around.

  The small boy’s tails shriveled away and his legs returned to normal. He turned away from the enormous corpse and casually walked back to the other children. He scratched his cheek and nodded, “Um, I’m ready to go now.”

  “What the fuck are you!?” Aqila stumbled backward.

  Duncan quickly picked up Emma in his arms and hid behind Aqila.

  The small boy looked around nervously, “Uh… I’m…”

  “That was amazing!” Yara gushed. “You’re amazing! I mean, how did you do that!? I’ve seen shapeshifters before, but never one with such dexterity and range! And the power, the POWER! How did you do that!?”

  “...Um, I don’t know?” the small boy smiled uncertainly.

  “You gotta tell me everything!” Yara said excitedly.

  “How are you okay with any of this?” Aqila whispered.

  “How are you not!?” Yara shook her head incredulously.

  “Shouldn’t we get out of here?” Duncan asked.

  “Yeah, probably. This place will be covered in flames and lava soon enough,” Yara said off-handedly. “Oh! Wait just a sec.” She turned around and ran all the way back to the corpse of the dark god. She picked up a chunk of the god’s scaled arm, wrapped it carefully in a piece of cloth, and placed it in her backpack. 

  Yara smiled and glanced back at the boy in the distance, “Now, what might your story be?”