𝗖𝗢𝗭𝗘𝗡 ━ 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗇𝗑 𝗌𝖺𝗀𝖺

𝓯𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓽𝓮𝓮𝓷

Musa felt the pent up anger welling up inside Lark, but it wasn't just pure frustration, it was intermingled with a sense of culpability and obligation, for Lark felt it was his own obligation to shield his sister from the ills, even though he had been the first moron to be harmed. Musa understood that, of course, she was a bloody mind fairy, but she also grasped Aeden's point of view and agreed more with his, even though Lark's motivations were perfectly warrantable.

"You need me." Lark rattled his head obstinately.

"Yeah." Aeden granted, the incensed attentiveness from the girls and Lark's anticipatory one directed at him, which evaporated as soon as he appended, "Alive, and Maya wouldn't be pleased if her brother were to die." he broke off whatever remarks Lark was about to make with a finishing stare, "We're running out of time."

Run.

The single sentence Maya kept on reiterating and yet the only thing she could not manage to fulfil from the excessive fatigue and the headache she was now beginning to fathom.Not that she had any realistic expectation of ever finding her way back among the safeness of Alfea.

It was all bleak, and Maya could recall the days as a toddler when she would hide entirely under the covers in fear of the nocturnal freaks, regardless of her parents' constant assuances that there was no real threat; Maya would still end up sleeping with her parents anyway.

But this time she didn't have her parents to shield her, nor her brother, nor Aeden, nor her enchanted friends, gosh, not even Mrs Dowling, only her inner self and the unbridled magic tingling within her.

But the magic was as if it didn't exist at all, she had never been able to master it anyway, aside from that particular evening at the Stone Circle, courtesy, funnily enough, of the most mischievous bloke she had ever encountered, and that was it.

She didn't even have a proper sense of orientation, which Maya never had anyway, and that didn't make matters any easier. She was quitting, in fact she'd been surrendering for a while, ever since Lark was ambushed; if Lark couldn't help her with magic, who could? She was freaking dying, and although she had pledged to Lark that she would slay the mongrel critter that had lashed out at him, Maya was beyond mystified now.

He had been absolutely correct when he had claimed that she would not achieve it, and at that point Maya just longed to lean against a tree, bawling and anticipating her dreadful end. But who would do that? Even if it was the ultimate person in an apocalypse, it certainly would not remain dormant. But she was Maya, Maya wasn't those superpowered people she had seen in the movies, those who never give up, specialized with any kind of weapon and dauntless, no.

Her thoughts were shortened by the clatter of a branch cracking and at that very instant she felt Death closing in on her, strides sluggish and sharp, reckoning the prize, which was her, and it was instinct that kicked in, sending her off in haste, even though her physical state was not the prettiest.

Where was she going? As if she knew.

Perhaps it was best to rely on her gut, even if she assumed that instinct itself was actually killing her, yet it was the very reason she found herself dashing and seeking to elude the claws of the body-hungry critter.

She knew that if she paused for a second the ruthless creature would not hesitate to wrench out all her organs and skin, leaving only a mangled bony skeleton; and meanwhile, the more pressing she became, her magic coalesced into the heightened state within herself. Whatever it was about this increasing surge of strength she was sensing she did not know, but her hand was already growing to a strange stinging sensation through her fingers.

Perhaps this was the sort of empowerment she had always craved. Maybe this was the capacity she had always yearned to hold and with it to destroy the menaces. She was mindful of the Dowling's remarks, which she had said that day of her failure in the Stone Circle, about not being overtaken by adverse sentiments, but was the urge not to die one of them?

In the process, she knew she wouldn't last long and somehow the creature, sooner or later, would hook her and clobber her so she had to immediately work out what she ought to do. She could only hope that her magic was sufficiently powerful to do anything, but she had to live, since she hadn't accomplished many of the things she would have liked to do in her life.

Her eyes began to flare their usual colour, the magic now almost unchecked, but because it wanted to make itself useful and be unleashed, and the very first thing that popped into Maya's head was a reminiscence of her mother, who had pulled a trick on her when she was a baby, of bringing up so many of herself, justifiably leaving mini Maya to wail, not knowing which one was her real mother. She was uncertain if she could honestly accomplish that, having never done it in her life, and from what she remembered, neither could Lark.

But it was a matter of 'try or die.'

She flung herself to the side straight away, causing the Burned One to sprint for a while, then turn around and face the girl, who was now focusing on conjuring up other self appearances to divert it. It was as if the world didn't even exist, the only things that did were herself and her fantasy copies, completely disregarding the creature as it drew steadily closer to her.

But it never caught up with her.

For when she re-opened her glowing eyes, she found six more copies of herself around her, ready to launch an attack, which didn't come quickly as The Burned One became disoriented by the appearance of six of the same person. Maya was feeling the burnout winning her over and tentatively, she attempted to flick her fingers, the most apt act she had ever pulled off, as her replicas went to assault The Burned One, each one unleashing its own distinct energy and Maya slumped onto her knees in total fatigue, her eyes progressively dropping closed.

Meanwhile the group outside in the forest were able to detect the scent of the Burned One and when they arrived at the place where the scent had come from they were struck by the corpse of the Burned One in the ground, unmoving, and dead.

They were further shocked, especially the Dowling, by the brittle figure of Maya, who was lying on the ground a few metres away from the Burned One.

And in the meantime, Lark was starting, mysteriously, to feel much better.

Maya had fulfilled her pledge.

I'll admit it, this chapter was so intense to write, phew!