Seven Stories

Chapter 6: The Line

Darkness rolled over the Land like a wave crashing on sand. Dusk was forgotten for the sheer, overwhelming darkness of a moonless night. Paralyzed just like the armies of Light and Shadows, Lii looked up to the sky. Shadows were floating in mid-air, like black shrouds under the wind. It was cold again, winter cold, and it seemed the roaring of the demons would never end. Until it just did.

The shadows gathered in the sudden silence and fell on the land like ghostly birds of prey. The three girls saw them spread everywhere, and heard the screeches of their first victims. Lii's blood froze in her veins, in a way that had nothing to do with the cold temperatures.

Another scream, followed after a shorter delay by yet another one. Lii, Laya and Karen were too far to see what was happening, but Lii could very well imagine the bodies dropping to the ground, all life blown out of them. Now the warriors of Light and Shadows had understood, too, and the first panicked injunctions to run were heard around the Land.

Lii tightened her grip on Karen's hand. As if realizing it had forgotten to for the last minutes, her heart was pounding against her ribs like it intended to break them.

"We need to go" she said with a tranquility she absolutely did not feel. Laya looked at her with wide, terror-stricken eyes.

"Go where? They're everywhere! If we move they'll see us!"

"If we don't, they'll see us once everybody else's dead, you can bet on that," Lii snapped back. Then speaking to Karen, she added in a pressing tone "Come on Karen, the Woods!"

The young girl nodded and followed Lii as she took up running again, and the girls swirled around the dark tents, which grew sparser as they got nearer to the edge of the Woods. Screams and helpless cries echoed all around them. They took one more turn and barely avoided one of the clouds of black smoke rushing towards them. Lii moved so suddenly she sent Karen stumbling to the floor. The young girl screamed, and the two elders helped her up. The demon had stopped, its smoke moving up and down aimlessly.

"What is it doing?" Laya asked as Karen finally got on her feet.

"It's deciding whether it would rather kill us or somebody else," Lii replied sternly. "And I wouldn't bet on it turning around..."

Before she had finished her sentence, the cloud of smoke had expanded like a human breathing in.

"So we run?" Laya said.

Without answering, Lii dragged Karen behind her once more as the demon sped in their direction. Laya followed. They jumped over dropped kegs and tables, avoided other people running for their lives, and never took the time to look over their shoulders to make sure they were still chased. Lii knew if the demon had a chance to so much as graze their skin, they would be dead.

Finally they reached the middle of the Land, cleared of fighting warriors. Only bodies remained. Karen gasped but did not stop running. They were only a few yards away from the Woods now. Soon they would be out of range. If they could just make it that far, they would be safe...

Karen felt an impact against her ankle. She fell on the cold corpse of a warrior of Shadows, wearing his blue armor. She squealed and pushed with her hands to try to get away from it. She felt her heart sink for a split second at the sight of the jet-black hair; but the hand she had tripped on, dead on the brown grass of the Line, was white-skinned. It could have been her brother but this one body wasn't his.

"Karen!" she heard Lii yell and she looked up in time to see the dark shadow diving on her. Her eyes widened. She did not have time to react. As the shadow closed in, she felt the preternatural cold wrapping around her body, slowing down her heartbeat, draining the life force out of her.