Taint, Time and Tangents✔️

≑ Chapter Thirty Three

To Mysterry, for staying with me in this long journey of writing <3

∞ 33 ∞

CALLIE

All I remember was Phoebe and the sword impaled through her chest... the King and his sneer surging from his emerald coat... the moon and its round face being wrapped with dark sleek cloak.

All I remember was the radiant light, coming from within me, painting everything with blots of pearl.

What followed were all a blur -flashing frames of various scenes - may they be from past, something happening at this moment, or just illusion, I have no idea. Everything was occurring so fast; every second, a different picture was popping before my eyes then crumbling a moment after.

Amidst the muted blasts, the faint hissing of fire behind me and muffled roaring of the ground beneath my feet, a peculiar but oddly familiar warmth was entwining its lithe fingers around my body. It was a pleasant feeling, like a loving mother cuddling her newborn, like the first time a butterfly spreads its wings from the constraints of the cocoon and like that one winter day where Zeke embraced my shaking frame after I fell headfirst to freezing water.

But this strange warmth, as much as it felt good, was admixed with whispers - haunted words urging me to ruin and end everything.

What should I end? And how can I destroy anything with a weak and damaged body? I couldn't even discern where I was or if I was still alive.

The Earth was slowly getting ripped in front of my eyes, like a thin paper, by a burnt hand - its slight twirl and snap of fingers sent the fire of the ground's core spewing on every creases and the waves of ocean waltz their way through the woods.

Anything that happened before me was all because of that hand - that same small right hand, its skin charred, leaving snips of pink flesh underneath. Every murmur around me, those slender fingers move, as if unseen strings were maneuvering them from above.

"W-what are you?" Extreme fear - the emotion suddenly patted my shoulders as those silent words probed my ears.

My eyes went south, peering down to a familiar face drenched with tears. His dark eyes, that I recalled screamed nothing but cruelty, was now looking like a starving puppy's begging for few crumbs of food. Even when on his knees, his trembling frame was huge and towering before me.

It didn't appall me for a bit. It was just very unsightly.

Terrified bows came every time he opens his shaking lips; every second mumbling about something - imploring for mercy. He was stealing glances at my eyes, not letting his own stayed for a couple of seconds, like I would do something if I caught him staring.

Whatever little amount of dignity left on him, it had departed the moment I saw him cowered in horror upon seeing a left hand, just as burnt and hideous as the other one, lifting up and reaching for him.

"N-no, p-p-please!" His body was now shaking terrible under torn, singed clothes as his anxious eyes watched the hand slowly curled into a tight fist. Tears appeared to stop flowing from those dark spheres as the index finger pointed up and came in contact with the damp skin of his forehead. Deep, painful howl came from parched lips as his eyeballs rolled upwards, momentarily losing his consciousness.

The second he came back to himself, his arms and legs fell from their sockets - the flesh perfectly sliced, without any blood evident from the cut. His eyes widened as he lifted his shoulders, not believing for a second that they were hacked off from his body.