FaDiNG

1: Turn to Ashes

The cold spring rain began to fall on Alys’s hooded jacket, drenching her naturally dark blue hair. She looked up at the evening sky, frowning playfully at herself. She forgot an umbrella, again, despite the dark clouds that had swarmed across the sky earlier that morning. Finding a covered area to stand under, she mentally checked her groceries, making sure she had everything on her imaginary shopping list. Looking out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at her reflection in the nearby shop window.

Her long hair had been tied up into a simple high ponytail, reaching just above her waist when out, with her bangs loose, falling to chin length, and her eyes – a mystical grey – were flecked with greens, and golds, and surrounded by long dark eyelashes and pale skin. But it was her right eye that was the most intriguing of all -containing a patch of pure violet that surrounded her entire eye, apart from the area around her pupil.

Looking away, she sighed at her unnatural hair and heterochromic eyes. She had always hated the fact that she looked so different. She had tried dying her hair, but the dye would mysteriously disappear by morning, no matter how cheap or expensive the brand, and her eyes were even weirder. Upon putting coloured contacts on her eyes, all she had to do was blink and the contacts would suddenly disappear, not a trace left, not even some irritation to her eye.

She cleared away her thoughts with a simple shake of her head, and decided to make her way back home, determined to get there without soaking her jacket through, despite the heavy pelting against the roof tops.

Pulling up her hood, she ran off into the rain, her sneakers splashing into swarming puddles that had just built up, heading towards her apartment block - a three minute walk – a one minute run.

Just about to turn the corner onto her street, Alys felt a vibration in her pocket. Stopping mid stride to grab her phone, she continued at a slower pace, already seeing the contact name of who was calling.

Picking up the phone, she spoke into the receiver. ‘Hello?’ pause. ‘Mum, is that you?’

All she heard in reply was an empty silence. Alys waited, wondering if it was just one of those butt calls that her mum occasionally did.

Suddenly, she heard a noise come through. A crash, a bang, her mother’s shout, then silence.

Then she heard it. Something she would never forget.

‘Alys… Run!’

Alys stopped. Her face frozen in a shocked confusion, as she stared down at her phone. “Call Ended”.

In a panic, Alys ran back to the apartment, her mother’s words echoing around in her head, adrenaline pushing her forward. Running up two flights of stairs three at a time, to find her front door swung open, revealing the chaos that had erupted. Everything strewn across the floor, neither of her cats in sight.

Slowly, she crept inside, carefully placing her groceries down, her voice slowly trickling out of her mouth.

‘M- Mum?’

The worry in her throat had stopped the words from coming out, yet she tried again to speak, only managing a murmur.

Suddenly, a clatter from inside her mother’s room, came in a rush to her ears, startling her. Careful of where to place her feet without making a noise, she made her way towards the room. The door was wide open and from where she was standing, and she could hear voices from inside, but couldn’t see what was happening. Without comprehending any of their words, she made out that in the room were two people speaking, a man, of whom she had no clue to the identity of, but had a deep voice that sounded like shadows, and a woman, whose voice Alys could recognise as soon as she heard it, Freyja LeFay, her mother.

The man obviously sounded angry about something, despite his relatively quiet voice, but her mother didn’t sound scared, she sounded brave and determined, like when someone would try to intimidate her, yet failed as she held her ground, cunningly opposing her opponent.

Another crash resounded from inside the room, and as Alys leapt forward to look inside, her eyes widened in horror, her world beginning to collapse around her.

The “man” that was in the room had is arm straight through Freyja’s stomach, appearing out on the other side dripping with her mother’s blood. Her mother, frozen in surprise, coughed out blood, and slowly fell towards the ground.

Alys face, dripping with horror and fear, screamed, calling out to her mother. Slowly, both of them turned towards her, the “man’s” face a mask of calm. No, he wasn’t a man. A monster. That was a better name for him.

The monster was like a humanoid reptile. His upper torso and head were relatively human, whereas, where his legs would be, was a long slithering tail of a snake, the scales decoratively creeping up his torso and eventually fading out mid-way. His hands, more like claws, were covered in protective scales that crept up his muscled arms, fading out just after his shoulder. His hair, a dark green, writhed around in the non-existent wind, and his skin, as white as snow, devoid of colour, contrasted against his protruding horns and his eyes, completely yellow, except for his slit pupils.

As he opened his mouth into a grin, she saw the long protruding fangs that just escaped his mouth, surrounded by sharp teeth. ‘So you can see me, little child,’ he said, intrigued, just as her mother’s mouth quivered open.

‘No! No! Alys! No…’

Then her mother’s voice grew silent as death loomed over her lifeless body.

Alys slowly backed away from the horror scene, shaking her head in defeat. Her eyes streaming with waterless tears. With each step she took back, the monster would draw nearer, slow, but steady.

Suddenly she turned and ran. She knew she would never make it past the front door of her apartment, so, instead, she sped towards the kitchen, reaching for the kitchen knife block, and grabbing the sharpest knife there. Tightly gripping it, she whizzed around to find nothing behind her. Shocked she turned back around to find the monster looming over her. Stepping back, stunned, his glowing eyes followed her as his sharp smile gleamed in the dark. Now at a good distance away, she threw the knife at the monsters torso, as the monster stood still, watching her. The knife spun rapidly through the air, and accurately embedded itself deep into the monster’s side. Smiling at a successful hit, Alys was shocked to find a deep laugh erupting from the monsters throat. A bloodcurdling laugh. Grabbing onto the knife, the chuckle still resounding from his mouth, he pulled out the knife with ease, unwavering. Just as a single drop of purple blood fell from his wound, it suddenly healed up, leaving not a single mark.

‘N- No way…’

Staring down at her with his cold eyes, he sprung forth, ready to strike, and in that moment, time seemed to slow down. As his hand lunged forward, Alys could feel the veil of despair fall over her.

How useless am I? I couldn’t do anything.

Forcing her eyes to stay open for the last moments of her life, a brilliant flame ignited within her. But completely unpredictably, the monster movement ceased, his hand just centimetres away from its target. With the monster’s grin wiped off his face, his focus slowly shifted to the newly received wound in his chest – a dagger that had shot straight through his chest in an instant.

Stunned, and her flame gone out, Alys stood frozen, watching in shock as the monster fell, his hand brushing her shoulder, revealing a middle-aged man standing in the doorway of the apartment, his hand outstretched from throwing his weapon. The ashes from the dead monster began to fill the air, slowly rising in the non-existent current.

Because of the dark, she couldn’t make out any of his features, just his long black coat, and as her adrenaline slowly began to rush out of her veins, her eyes began to lose focus, and it all faded to black.