Children of Chaos - Book 1

“You were always beautiful…Terrifying? Maybe, but always beautiful.”

You quickly rolled to the side, just avoiding being impaled by teeth the length of your forearm. Holy Fitnah! Those suckers were huge! But you couldn’t dwell on that, as head number two, or was it three? came at you from the other side.

You let yourself fall into the shadows, running out of them on your feet, a couple of meters from where the second head was eating dirt. The Zmey roared in anger when its head met rock instead of tasty Kyra meat. Keeping its heads in view you tried to scan the area. Where was Lynn?

“Kyra! Are you alright?”

You twisted around and saw Aidan, Emrys, Ethan, Megumi and Nami standing about a hundred paces behind you, their weapons out. Between you and them? Just one hungry three-headed Zmey. Aidan’s shout had gotten its attention and it was now turning all three of those lovely heads towards them, leaving you free to search for Lynn. Apparently, it wasn’t big on multitasking, which was fine by you. You wondered if Aidan had done that on purpose, or if he’d just been dumb enough. You decided to debate that question later.

The Zmey started towards them as you ran to where it had first attacked you. The ground was torn up with broken trees everywhere, but no sign of Lynn. You wanted to call out for her, but that would not be a smart idea. You heard a soft grunt coming from one of the heaps of dirt and rushed over. There she was, buried under some branches and earth. You started digging her out when you felt your scar tingle, a split second before you were violently thrown through the air.

Its tail! You had forgotten about the bloody tail! That was your last thought before you collided with a nearby tree, knocking the wind right out of your lungs. As you sank to the ground you felt as if every bone in your body had just been broken and for a couple of minutes you were unable to move or even think.

You barely registered the battle going on just a few meters from where you had crumbled to the ground. Your mind was fuzzy with pain, but there was something you needed to remember. Something important. Something you’d been doing before you’d been hit by a brick wall. Lynn! Lynn was suffocating. You tried to get up and failed miserably, as pain coursed through you. Oh, there were broken bones for sure!

You took a deep breath and let the shadows swallow you up and spit you out right next to Lynn. Gasping in pain, you resurfaced next to her. You were now trembling from the effort, but it was still a lot better than dragging yourself all the way.You felt darkness starting to cloud your vision, but you were not done yet. You needed to get your hands on Lynn.

Your right arm wasn’t obeying any of your commands, so you started digging with your left until you finally found something soft and warm. Her arm! You grabbed it and let the shadows envelope you again, praying that it would work. This time, you travelled behind the group still fighting the Zmey, giving yourself a minute to catch your breath. Lynn was still breathing, but she was out cold for now. You looked at the group in front of you, trying to focus.

Relief flooded you when you realized that they were handling it. You were impressed with what you saw. You had been right, Emrys’ pistols were indeed enchanted. The bullets he shot could have torn through a concrete wall and had already caused several big dents in the beast's thick hide. But dents weren't enough.

Megumi was shooting arrow after arrow at the beast, but most of them seemed to bounce of its side. Still, she never missed.

Aidan had his sword out and was fighting one of the heads. He’d already succeeded in stabbing out one of its eyes, which caused the dragon to rear its head with a blood-curdling howl.

Suddenly the Zmey decided that he was sick of this. All three heads rose into the air, and something told you that what was going to happen next was not going to be good. You were too weak to dark walk again, and so you watched helplessly as a gigantic wall of fire, coming out of all three mouths at once, headed right towards the group.

It never got there.

You could barely believe your eyes when Aidan and Megumi stepped in front of everyone in one fluid synchronised motion, almost as if they had practiced this before, and held out their hands. You felt the heat on your face, making you sweat and your eyes sting, as the flames froze in place, just an arms length in front of the two of them. Megumi had created a solid wall of air and Aidan was now forcing the fire back. Slowly the flames began to lessen until they finally ceased. Both Aidan and Megumi fell to their knees, trembling.

They had stopped the immediate threat, but the dragon was far from done. If anything, it looked more aggressive than it had before. It must have been pretty darn hungry, and not expecting its meal to put up such a fight.

You were no longer on the verge of passing out and had recovered enough to get back on your feet, and although your right arm was useless, you had a couple of other tricks up your sleeve.

“Ethan! Use some branches to drag Megumi and Aidan out of the way! Emrys! Start shooting again!”, you hollered as you started walking towards the beast.

Ethan quickly did as you said; dragging his weakened comrades out of harm’s way, and Emrys gave you an incredulous look as he resumed his fire, aiming it at the heads.

The Zmey turned towards Emrys, getting ready for another fire assault. To Emry's credit, you had to say that he didn’t even bat an eye, he just kept up his cowboy act, trusting you to have a plan. And here you had thought he didn't trust you as far as he could throw you.

You were probably going to pass out for a day after this, but you held out your left hand and started chanting, feeling the words slip over your lips like ice. Dark tendrils shot from your fingertips towards the Zmey, enveloping all three heads. The monster stopped in its tracks, suddenly blinded and unable to breathe. It started whipping around its heads, trying to shake off the shadows, but it was futile. Its tail hit the earth, causing it to shake and you could hear a muffled, but very angry roar.

You closed your fist in one swift movement and pulled it towards your chest, whispering the final word. You could feel it as, instantly, all three heads vanished from their necks, torn off by the shadows, only to reappear at the feet of the beast, their eyes cold and empty. The three necks twitched and turned as the Zmey fell to the ground, burying several trees under its weight.

Emrys dashed out of the way of the falling beast and came to a halt next to you. The last thing you saw before you passed out was his face. You weren’t conscious enough to make out the expression, but if you had been you’d have been surprised to see that he looked impressed. Impressed and afraid.

“What was that?”

“Insanely creepy!”

“Is she going to be ok?”

The voices around you were muddled as if you were underwater. You heard the words, but the meaning seemed to be beyond you. Little by little your senses started to return to you, and you began to wish they wouldn’t. You felt terrible, as if - well as if you had been hit by a dragon's tail, thrown through the air, crashed into a tree, dark-walked with a dislocated shoulder, and then used your already exhausted powers to tear of said dragons heads. Yup. That was how you felt.

“I’m going to be just fine”, you muttered as you forced your eyes open.

The first thing you noticed was that it was dark outside and that you were looking up at the starless sky, then everything came back to you.

“How’s Lynn?”

“Still passed out. She’s the only one with healing powers, and we’re not sure what to do. She doesn’t seem to be injured, only a few cuts and bruises, but she hasn’t woken up yet.”

Emrys sounded worried, and having Emrys worried, worried you.

“How long was I out?”

This time it was Aidan who replied, his voice coming from somewhere on your left.

“Five hours, maybe six. We couldn’t wake you either. Ethan set your arm, we figured it’d be less painful if we did it while you were out cold. I’m also fairly certain that you’ve bruised some of your ribs.”

A dislocated shoulder and a few bruised ribs? Not bad for playing chicken with a dragon.

You pushed yourself up with your left arm, wincing at the pain shooting through your right side. Those ribs were more than bruised by the feel of it.

They had set up a provisional camp and a small fire that emanated a warm and gentle glow. You had half a mind to tell them to put it out but then decided against it. If something had wanted to attack you, it would have already done so.

“Where is she?”

You had planned on getting this key in one day, easy in and out, but no, you’d had to get yourself knocked out on the first try. They were probably real trusting of you now.

But as you slowly crawled over to Ethan, who was sitting a few meters to your right, with Lynn’s head in his lap, you felt everyone’s stares on you. You glanced at Aidan and saw something in his face that hadn’t been there before. Apprehension.

“Let me see her”, you told Ethan and he gently placed Lynn’s head on the ground and got up, watching you with an inscrutable expression. It was odd to feel relief at seeing your friend so concerned, but you had been worried about how little he had seemed to care about Lynn. Seeing him like this proved that there was still something there.

You looked at the unconscious girl before you. It really did look as if she had only suffered a couple of cuts and bruises, but from the fact that she hadn’t woken up yet, you assumed that that was not the whole extent of her injuries. You put your hand on her forehead and felt a strong sense of disorder. A concussion, probably.

“Bring me water.”, you ordered firmly, keeping your hand on her forehead.

Someone placed a bottle in your hand and you gently poured it over her forehead where it was instantly absorbed by her skin. It actually looked kind of creepy, but you could already feel the confusion lessen. You poured out the entire bottle, and two more until you couldn’t feel anything anymore. She probably wouldn’t wake up for another hour or so, but that was because she had exhausted herself healing, and not because she was in danger.

You wished you had healing abilities of your own, so you could take away the pain pulsing in your right side, but for now you would have to wait until Lynn woke up.

“Was anyone else injured?”

The guys were the only ones still awake, but they all shook their heads.

“Megumi was pretty exhausted after using her powers today, so she’s resting, but she wasn’t injured.”, Aidan said. “Same goes for me.”

“I just got a nasty sunburn from that firewall, but that’s preferable to being roasted alive, so no complaints from me”, Ethan said with a smile.

“Not a scratch”, Emrys smirked.

“And Nami?”

“We’re fine.”, came a dreamy voice from one of the sleeping bags. You decided to ignore the odd we in there.

“Good”, you sighed. It seemed like you and Lynn had gotten the worst of it, and Lynn was going to be just fine when she woke up, leaving you the only crippled one in the group.

“Any healing rituals you know off?”, you asked Emrys half-jokingly.

“Nah sorry. I paid more attention to offensive skills back at the Res.”

Yeah, he would. Well, you were just going to have to wait for Lynn to wake up, and until then, you could do some reorganizing.

“Ok, we’re safe here for the moment. Zmey are pretty solitary creatures, dominance problems and all that, so we shouldn’t be bothered by anything big for a while. I doubt the other monsters have caught on to its death yet. You guys should catch some sleep. I’ll take over the guard shift.”

Ethan and Emrys nodded, but Aidan shook his head.

“Nah, you need to heal, you need the rest more than we do. Besides, I already got some. I’m fit again.”

Yeah, whatever, there were big bags under his eyes.

“Won’t be able to sleep right now anyways”, you replied, pointing towards your useless side. “Too much pain. Plus those five hours were enough for me.”

It was a half-truth. The part about the pain keeping you awake was true, but other than that, you could have easily slept another week. Aidan just shook his head and sat down across from you, while the other two yawned and curled up in the emergency sleeping bags you had everyone pack. Once again it had paid off to be prepared.

Soon, Emrys' deep, even breaths and Ethan’s snores indicated that the two men had gone to sleep.

“You know, he claims that it’s due to a cold, but I haven’t heard him sniffle or cough once today”, Aidan smirked, as he looked at Ethan pointedly.

You chuckled under your breath, too tired to be hostile. It felt surprisingly pleasant, sitting by the fire in silence. The feeling reminded you of a time when Aidan had always made you feel calm. That was so long ago. A wave of bitterness washed over you again, and you forced it down.

“I never got a chance to apologize.”

You looked up with a start. Aidan was looking straight at you, his face tinted orange by the dancing flames. Fire had always suited him, he was so much like it. Hot, intense, and ultimately fleeting. Your eyes travelled down to the flames, watching them flicker and dance, the comfortable feeling replaced by apprehension.

“You had many chances to apologize, Aidan, you chose not to.”

You had meant to sound cold, angry, or detached; instead your voice came out soft and somehow deeply sad.

“I know.”

The silence that followed was pregnant with unspoken words, on both sides. Three years ago, it would have been he, who would have caved, made a joke, made light of the situation, or simply ignored it. Now it was you who couldn’t take it any longer. You were not used to him being serious, or calm.

“You know, I do feel rather tired after all.”

You got out your sleeping bag, and stretched it out on the ground, lying down on your left side, as to take the weight off the right.

“Good night Kyra.”

“Good night Aidan.”

You feel asleep to his voice, as he softly hummed a lullaby.

You dreamt of a little boy. He was no older than four, his dark eyes big and curious as he played with the flames flickering all over his body. He spread his fingers, and the fire danced. He laughed as the sparks flew. It was a sweet innocent sound.

The mother, who had been sitting by the table, thinking about the neighbours, or yesterday’s news, looked up at the sound. Her smile froze as she saw her child on fire. She started forward, but stopped, her eyes wide with fear.

The child was on fire, but he was not burning. Then the woman began to scream, a horrible and wretched sound.

“The devil! The devil is in the child!”

She grabbed a broom and swatted it at the little boy. His face, lit up by a radiant smile mere seconds ago, contorted in pain and confusion.

“Stop Mama, stop!”

But she would not stop, she kept swatting at the boy, and when the broom caught fire, she cast it on the ground, made a cross over her chest and fled the house, leaving behind her crying child. The flames fed on the dry wooden house, and its centre sat the little boy, crying tears that immediately evaporated from his cheeks.

Then, in the middle of the blazing inferno, a shape appeared. It was a woman, more graceful and beautiful than anything the boy had ever seen before. She knelt down in front of him, untouched by the flames, and whispered in a soft and gentle voice.

“Don’t cry little child. Don't cry. I will be your mother now.”

She held out her hand to the little boy. He sniffled, whipped his nose with his sleeve and took it.