Spectrum: Book 1

Chapter 2: The House

The second Aurra jumped from the startling shrill screaming was also the second she got tackled by the aggressor, slamming her onto Cellosa & plunging them into the blackness of the dusky home. The front door swung back and gave the same treatment to the wall, then casually closed itself, leaving a small crack for the blue moonlight to peer through.

Screeching. Thrashing. Howling. The sleeping house was experiencing a dreadful nightmare that seemed to never end...

"Use your fire, Aurra!" Cellosa shouted after escaping the invisible struggle, standing with her back against the wall for support in this dim realm. The only response she got was more yelling & the sound of metal clanging onto wood many feet away from the commotion. Her head shot back & forth between the two different sources of sound in the room with the slit of moonlight down the middle.

She wanted to find the sword, but Aurra could be mortally wounded or worse if she did. Cellosa's heart skipped a beat, then she clapped her hands together as they echoed throughout the house, & recited a prayer...

"Formable predator of snow, utilizing your powerful sight & hearing to show. Specialist in the stealth of cold, many hares under your hold. Your mother is a lone traveler of the north, as your children work together to go forth. I summon thee, Lynx!"

An intense beam of yellow light pierced the wood in front of Cellosa, splitting into three points forming a triangle within a glaring magic circle. The blazing light filled the house enough to mimic sunlight penetrating every window. The golden magic circle rotating on the ground was about the size of a table, while smoke and ashes rose from the core forming four stick-like structures. During this, Cellosa could finally see Aurra struggling on the floor with the manic woman on top of her. She realized the woman's eyes were still filled with red as if the lady could even cry blood. When checking on Aurra again, she noticed how bruised her face was, not sure if she had a broken nose or worse until the woman broke free of Aurra's arms holding Her's and continued slamming fists onto Aurra's face like a crazed monkey.

Cellosa's eyes widened and looked down to see if her lynx was finished summoning, but the light faded, & she saw nothing on the magic circle as it disappeared. Suddenly she heard wails of pain in the darkness again, but Aurra's voice stayed silent. The woman's cries grew louder as Cellosa heard footsteps racing past her in the opposite direction of the painful screams, then bright flames of amber blanketed the room.

She didn't realize how heavy her breathing was until she saw Aurra. Aurra's blackened eye swelled along with her wounded cheeks, but besides those issues she seemed fine, not considering how afraid she was. Aurra griped her sword firmly with both hands while staring ahead, then Cellosa was reminded of the ringing cries of pain & spun her head to see the woman cowering in the corner of the dining room, cautious until discovering the messy state of the woman.

Filled with gashes & caked in her blood, the woman kept crying with the lynx's jaws clamped down on her arm while still scrapping its claws on her. Cellosa's brows drew together & glared at the lynx as it abruptly loosened its jaws. The woman shrunk into the corner more while the lynx kept growling.

Cellosa's face relaxed since the tension of the situation finally calmed. She looked at Aurra & said, "Watch her while I search the house in case there's someone else here." Aurra kept staring at the woman, still shaking she replied, "W-what? You? Your lynx is in here, why not let it do that?" "Because I want to make sure that freak doesn't do anything, it's fine, my lynx is fast enough to help just in case." Before Cellosa continued the investigation, she realized just how trashed the place was.

Dishes scattered with clothes on the floor along with out-of-place furniture flipped over as if someone lost something important and was desperate to find it. Yet, the blood on the walls made Cellosa reconsider her plan but went along anyway since she felt safer with both Aurra & her dependable lynx.