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juniper_sky) wrote2021-02-20 03:33 pm
Elven and Bright: Chapter 1
On the east coast of the United States—never mind exactly where—there was a small city with the uncreative name of Odessa, and in one of that city's less-busy neighborhoods, there lived a seventeen-year-old girl named Rebecca. On one particular morning, she lifted herself out of bed and discovered, to her horror, that it was past seven-thirty. After a few frantic seconds of fiddling with her phone, she realized that the night before, she had somehow set the alarm to six-thirty PM, leaving herself at the mercy of her own natural sleep cycle. While calculating the various humiliating scenarios that could result from this, she managed to throw herself onto the floor, feet-first, and stumbled over to her dresser. After yanking out a random set of clothes and practically tearing off her pajamas, she dressed herself, slammed open her bedroom door, and sprinted down the stairs like a frightened rabbit. Upon reaching the bottom floor, she skidded to a stop at the sight of her mother.
Rebecca's mom, or “Mrs. Linder” when Rebecca and her girlfriend were having a sleepover, was a short woman, commonly seen in carefully-chosen blouses and skirts. Compared to her daughter, her face was rounder and her hair was less blonde, but the resemblance was still strong enough to be annoying. At that moment, she was holding Rebecca's school bag and wearing a smile that was both cheerful and amused.
“I'm guessing you'll need this?” she said wryly.
Rebecca took a deep breath, “Mom, I know I'm at that point where I need to learn responsibility, and self-care, and—whatever, but if I'm still asleep after seven, I don't think it would hurt my personal growth that much if you were to wake me up!”
Her mom just chuckled a little, “Well, even though I don't think it was the best idea for you to stay up late reading webcomics, I still think you have the right to both a good night's sleep and being well-prepared for school.” She lifted the bag and held it forward.
It took a moment for the gears in Rebecca's head to crank through this new information. “Does that mean the math assignment—?”
“Taken from where you left it on the table and packed neatly into its binder.” Her mom was still grinning.
“And the, uh, my...uh, lunch?” Rebecca could barely get the word out; that seemed far too much to ask.
“Fully packed. I also cleaned out the plastic containers.”
“Okay, but I think I'll still need to skip breakfast, what with—”
Her mom gestured to the protein bars stacked on the nearby counter.
Rebecca let out a sigh, and threw her arms around her mother's shoulders, pausing a second before letting go. “You're the best, Mom.” And every part of her meant it.
Her mother just smiled patiently, “Have a good day, okay?”
Rebecca nodded, took the bag, and slung it over her shoulders. Smiling in spite of herself, she headed for the door, snatching up the protein bars along the way.
“Have fun at school, Becky!” her dad called, from the table where he was eating his own breakfast. He was the only person who ever called her “Becky” in any context, mostly because he could get away with it. But really, she didn't mind it from him.
“Thanks, Dad!” she said, and then it was out the door.
The advantage of living within walking distance of her school was that she could set her own pace as she walked. If she was about to be late, she could just walk faster! The disadvantage, on the other hand, was that setting her own pace meant she could push her luck. She could walk slowly now and just walk faster later, right? As such, her trip to school ended up being less of an even jog and more of a leisurely stroll followed by another sprint when she checked her phone. Rebecca's family lived around the outer section of the city, away from most of the taller buildings (though thankfully still on a street; her dad would go crazy if he had to drive out of a cul-de-sac). West Odessa High, meanwhile, was also not far from the edge of town, but wasn't really inside of a specific neighborhood. It had a sort of cross-section all to itself, near a spot where three narrow roads intersected. The building was only two stories, but it was spread out over a large campus, leading to a lot of winding hallways.
Rebecca ducked in through a side entrance, briefly stopped at her locker to rearrange some text-books, then fast-walked to her home room. She passed through the doorway, stumbling a bit, mere seconds between the school bell gave its distinctive ding. As she slid into her seat, she gave a sigh of relief, not even caring that some of her more malicious classmates were laughing. Glancing to her left, she saw Clara Hartman give a reassuring thumbs up. Rebecca nodded, then looked to the front of the room. Ms. Acra was reading down the attendance with an extremely bored look on her face, not that Rebecca could blame her. She seemed to enjoy herself when she was actually teaching (history, in her case), but running through daily procedure couldn't be anyone's idea of fun. But then there was Ari, her TA; he seemed to have a smile on his face no matter the occasion. That, plus how patient he was with anyone struggling with an assignment, meant that it was always nice to see him.
Before long, most everyone was accounted for, the morning announcements were given, and Rebecca and her classmates began awkwardly filing out of the room. As they slipped through the door-way, nearly bumping into each other, Rebecca and Clara Hartmann met each other's eyes, lingering for a moment in the hallway, before breaking away and heading off in opposing directions. Conflicting schedules and unshared classes would separate them, but soon enough, they would meet once again, for a great battle was coming, a battle in which both would have a vital roll.
“Two,” said Max, in a tone that could only be described as dumbstruck. He stared at his die for another few seconds, his jaw firmly affixed in an open state.
“Well...At least it's not a one?” Jack offered.
“Okay, it's not the end of the world!” Clara said quickly. “You only take...” She rolled a pair of dice from behind her homemade partition. “...Okay, that's going to put you into negative hitpoints. Sorry.”
Max Fitch (“Max” was short for Mackenzie, of all things) let out a deep sigh. “Can I just go ahead and roll to stabilize now?”
Clara shrugged, “Why not?”
Max blew twice on his die, then shook vigorously before throwing them against the table. “Oh, thank God!”
Clara glanced at the die, “Yup, that'll do it! You're safe! Anyway, Ogvertoven the Obsequious Half-Ogre ignores the half-dead body of Lugh Armandson for the moment and turns his attention to Pecathus the Blunt.” She double-checked her sheets for the bosses. “Buuut since he's all out of actions, he can only glare at you menacingly for the moment. Your turn, Jack!”
“Your bosses always get way too many actions,” Max remarked.
“It's the only way to make them challenging!” Clara said defensively.
Ignoring the brief bit of bickering, Jack picked up his miniature and said, “Pecathus casts slow.” After a saving throw determined that the half-ogre was indeed slowed, he continued, “And then I begin walking over to Lugh. I've got enough curing spells left to get him into something like fighting shape.”
“Sorry I ended up losing all my HP on the opposite side of him from you,” Max said sheepishly.
“It's fine. So, do you think Katrianna can keep him distracted for a bit?”
That was directed at Rebecca, who had, for the last several minutes, been squirming in her chair and trying to find a good way to position her feet. She had a hard enough time sitting straight at a desk, and the folding chairs they used for their D&D sessions were even smaller! Straightening herself out as best as she could and flipping her hair a bit in an “I meant to do that” gesture, she nodded.
“Yes, of course.” She cleared her throat, “Katrianna hoists her blade aloft and shouts: 'Are you some dirt-spitted jackal, that you would feast on the flesh of the helpless and dying? Know this: I am Katrianna, daughter of...my father, and bearer of the iron ring, and it shall be I...er, me, who ends your reign of terror!”
Jack and Max chuckled, while Clara frowned and put a hand to her chin, “That might require a performance or bluff check. Let me think about it.”
But then Max, after shaking off one last giggle, checked his phone and said, “The bell's going to ring in another minute or so, and it always takes longer than I expect to get my next class. Should we put the session on hold?”
Clara sighed, “In the middle of the boss fight?”
Jack shrugged, “Wouldn't be the first time. And we can stay after school again to finish.”
Clara nodded in resignation, “Yeah, okay. In that case, we might as well just leave the board and the sheets here. There's not going to be a rehearsal this afternoon.”
Jack and Max went to retrieve their backpacks while Rebecca followed Clara down the stairs. The band and theater kids were kind enough to let them use the auditorium for their gaming needs, at least when they weren't using it. On the other hand, getting the faculty to let them spend their free period on D&D had apparently required a lot of fast-talking from Clara. She'd won them over, so she'd said, by framing it as an exercise in creative writing. Originally it had just been Clara, Max, and Jack, but Rebecca had eventually joined at Clara's request.
“You know,” Clara said, grinning, “When I said you should try to roleplay more, that wasn't what I had in mind.”
Rebecca smiled sheepishly, “Sorry, I wasn't sure when the right time to jump in would be. And when it did happen, I guess I was talking a little too fast for my brain to keep up.”
Clara laughed, “It's fine, really. I think we all got a kick out of it. Heck, it could be your Thing from now on, if you want it to be.”
Rebecca laughed a little, too, “My Thing?”
Clara nodded, “Your Thing!” she said playfully, then mock-whispered, “I hate to say it, but right now your Things are pretty much 'Clara's girlfriend' and 'party-balancer.' Might want to get out in front of that.”
Now Rebecca was really laughing, and playfully squeezed her girlfriend's shoulders. They stopped for a moment, took in the sight of each other, then shook themselves out of it and kept walking. The two of them had first met in their second year of high school. Clara had always been shorter than her, and had dark skin, round cheeks, and curly black hair that contrasted with Rebecca's dirty blonde ponytail. Soon enough, they'd gotten to know each other pretty well, but there'd always seemed to be some unspoken confusion between them, some uncertainty muddying up any possible connection. It had only cleared up a few months ago, when Clara, in a very quiet and hesitant voice, had asked Rebecca on a date. The surprise had practically floored her, but she'd been happy to hear it all the same. And the following afternoon, they'd spent hours talking and laughing without a care in the world. For the first time, Rebecca could stare into the other girl's eyes and know exactly why she felt what she did. From there it was movie nights, sleepovers, D&D—whatever they darn well pleased. Neither of them knew exactly what would happen once they graduated, but for the moment, things were exactly how they were supposed to be.
They were in a small hallway, with an exit to the parking lot off to the side, when Clara stopped and frowned. “Darn it, I just remembered my class was supposed to be meeting in the computer lab today, the one on the second floor. That's almost on the other side of the building.”
Rebecca considered that for a moment, “Well, my next class isn't that close, either. Wanna just cut across the parking lot?”
“Yeah, let's do it.”
The West Odessa High building was roughly U-shaped, so it was sometimes faster to leave and re-enter through the side exits than to wind through the hallways. That particular day was a warm and sunny one, making for a pleasant, if brief walk, but Rebecca noticed some clouds forming in a patch of sky not too far away. They were long, thin, and black, and almost parallel to each other, and Rebecca couldn't quite make out where they began and ended.
“Hey, when was the last time you saw clouds like that?”
Clara took a moment to glance over the sky, “Like, black streaks? I guess that is kind of weird.”
“Dark clouds are usually 'cumulonimbus,' right? Don't those usually look like clumps? These are more like—what are they called?—cirrus. But those aren't dark.”
“Maybe they're actually contrails?”
“Yeah, maybe...” But wouldn't a jet that big have made more noise?
Brushing off the thought, she stepped through the entrance at the opposite edge of the parking lot. She and Clara exchanged smiles, and she gave Clara a quick peck on the cheek, before they headed off to their respective classes.
“Ogvertoven, you deeds have blackened your heart beyond any notion of cleansing! Now feel the wrath of a true warrior, and savor your last breath while you can!” The dice were already in Rebecca's hand. Just a few good rolls, one after the other, and suddenly she found herself more deeply invested than ever. From what her amateur understanding could tell, the “Obsequious Half-Ogre” they had been struggling against was on his last sliver of health. All she needed was a clean hit; it didn't even matter what the damage was. Holding her breath, she let dice fly.
“...It's a hit!” Clara shouted, looking downright exuberant in spite of herself. Clearing her throat, and adopting a more serious tone, she continued, “The hulking villain stumbles and collapses, letting out a feeble gurgle before his body goes still! His vast horde of ill-gotten riches is yours to plunder!”
There was a small bit of clapping and back-patting, then Max said, “What do you think, should we end the session here?”
“Well, that last bit dragged on pretty long, and the last time we had to divide up a loot pile this big, it took nearly an hour,” Jack said, “So yeah, let's call it here. Oh, and good job Rebecca!”
Rebecca smiled smugly, “Why, thank you,” then turned to Clara, “Now then, let's talk about our agreement.”
Clara's expression suddenly went from satisfaction to dread, “Now, now, there's still some room for negotiation, right?”
Rebecca's grin didn't waver, “Oh, I think my mind's pretty made up.”
“What's this, now?” Max asked, clearly bemused.
“Well, you see,” Rebecca said, still allowing herself a bit more smugness than was warranted, “Clara and I had previously agreed that if I struck the final blow on the boss, I would get to decide what movie we would be watching tonight.”
“Just get it over with...” Clara said in resignation.
“How about I give you a choice: The Dark Knight Rises, or La La Land?”
“Uggghhhhh...”
“Well!” Max said, now smirking himself, “I don't think it would be our place to get involved here, do you?”
Jack smiled, too, “Oh, of course not! I wouldn't dream of intruding on such an intimate moment between such lovebirds!” And with that, the two of them packed up their things and left Rebecca alone with her simmering Dungeon Master.
By the time they'd left the theater, Clara had recovered somewhat, though there was clearly still some frustration.
“Dark Knight Rises? Really?”
Rebecca shrugged innocently, “Well, since we've already seen Batman Begins and Dark Knight together, I thought it might be nice to round out the trilogy!”
“But Dark Knight Rises is blasphemous! Blasphemous!” They'd had that same conversation already, of course, though Rebecca still hadn't expected Clara to turn down “Dark Knight Rises” when “La La Land” was placed on the table. Then again, Clara's particular brand of geekdom could be very specific sometimes; she was the only Star Trek fan Rebecca knew of who thought “Wrath of Khan” was the worst movie in the franchise.
“Tell you what,” Rebecca said, not wanting to tease her girlfriend too much, “Next time it's my turn, we can decide between Moulin Rouge and Brokeback Mountain. Fair?”
“Fair...”
After a quick stop at their lockers, they walked—or maybe ambled—back down the hallway in the direction of the front entrance. As they hopped down a few steps that were meant to compensate for a slight incline beneath the floor, they could see Ari finishing up a conversation with a woman they didn't recognize—someone's mom, probably.
“—and if you'd like to make a one-on-one appointment, the reception desk is always open until four,” the TA was saying.
“I really appreciate the help, Mr...” The woman tried and failed to make it look like she wasn't examining his name-tag. “Mr. Niinisto.”
“Just Ari is fine, Mrs. Coto,” he replied, keeping that good-natured smile on his face and paying no visible attention to embarrassed expression.
“Ari Niinisto,” she said, maybe just wanting to keep the conversation from dropping off. “That's a lovely name. Is it Russian?”
He chuckled, “Finnish.”
“Well, thank you again, and I hope you have a wonderful day.” He nodded, and she headed off back down the hall. Rebecca, who had stopped a ways away so as not to interrupt, wondered why she was going towards a side-exit when the main entrance was right in front of them, but then, she could've parked in back.
“Hi, Ari!” Clara said, “Are you gonna be staying late again?”
“No, I think I'll be heading home early today,” he replied. “I need to get all rested for all those conferences we've got tomorrow, and then there's the weather to think about.”
“Yeah, I thought the same thing,” Clara said, and held up an umbrella, which she had retrieved from her locker earlier.
“Well, you're all set then! Still, just, uh, just do make sure you make it home safe, okay?”
“Oh, sure, we will,” Clara said, sounding just a little confused. There was something about Ari's usual smile, in just that moment, that seemed strained. Rebecca probably wouldn't have noticed, if the TA wasn't usually so level about everything.
But it was over in a moment, and his face was as friendly as ever. Rebecca and Clara waved as they walked off, and he waved back.
“Isn't that the same umbrella you brought to that World Peace Day fair, last year?” Rebecca said idly.
Clara shrugged, “I like this umbrella.”
They pushed open the large front doors and stepped out onto the school's front lawn. The black streaky clouds had apparently turned into a whole sky's worth of coverage—it now looked more like the usual prelude to rain, though there seemed to be less sunlight getting through than usual. There was a small breeze that seemed to get stronger as they headed down the sidewalk towards the main street. But as they were about to leave what was more or less the parking lot section, the wind suddenly hit them all at once in a massive burst. What felt like a small gust, barely enough to ruffle hair, suddenly turned into a staggering force of air, physically shoving them back and forcing dust into their eyes. Rebecca could barely stay on her feet, and Clara grabbed a nearby railing with both hands. After that first blast, the wind subsided, but not by much. It still felt like a struggle just to put one foot in front of another. Clara and Rebecca exchanged glances, then instinctively ran, as hard as they could, off of the parking lot and towards the surrounding neighborhood. Rebecca felt like she was ramming her body through some wall of wet sand. The wind was changing directions, sometimes within seconds of itself, but it always seemed to be slamming its full strength against them. And not just them; Rebecca could see the occasional splinter or pebble flying past, and tiny specks of dirt and brick were swirling around in the air. And before long, there was howling, too, a shrieking howl that seemed shred her ears and urge her heart to beat even faster.
After what was really just a few minutes, but seemed much longer, they stumbled into an alley, where the wind wasn't quite as heavy. Both of them found brick walls to lean on.
“I don't remember hearing anything about a hurricane warning!” Clara half-shouted, and with almost as much exasperation as shock.
“There was barely a cloud in the sky this morning...” Rebecca said, shaking her head. “Tell me I'm wrong. Seriously, tell me I'm wrong!” They both just stood there for another minute, trying to get their bearings—or maybe “salvage” their bearings would've been more accurate. “Let's just...let's just go right to my house, okay? It's not too far, we'll call your mom and dad, and we can stay in for the rest of the day if we have to.”
“Okay, that sounds good. There aren't any-”
She was interrupted by a sharp surge in the howling of the wind, nearly deafening them, but even through the shrieking, they could still hear a loud, creaking groan. They covered their ears, then looked back to the main road. Stop signs were bending and buckling. Patches of grass were ripping off the ground. On some building, a ways on the other side of the street, a window shattered.
“What the hell?” Rebecca breathed out. She couldn't think of anything to say beyond that, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway. The following blast of air, rushing across the road and spraying itself into every gap and cranny, threw her off her feet in under a second. For a moment, no part of her touched the ground, and then gravity and momentum scraped her body against the asphalt. Her head ached and pulsed, and her eyes couldn't seem to focus on anything. One of her ankle was twisted. She looked at her hands; one of them was torn and filthy on its backside. She blinked several times, then looked to her left—Clara was laying beside her. She was awake, she was alive. Rebecca's head got a little clearer.
Then the shrieking stopped. All of a sudden, there was a dead, lingering silence. If Rebecca's ears could have sighed in relief, all on their own, they would have. But it was also off-putting; she had adjusted to the howling after only a short time, and its sudden absence now startled her. Slowly, she and Clara got back on their feet, and instinctively squeezed each other's shoulders. They stood for a few moments, barely managing to catch their breath.
Clara broke the silence, “Do you think it would be...” But she trailed off. They could both see a new kind of cloud in the distance, a kind of thin, black funnel, reaching down from the dark skies into the ground. Somehow, it almost seemed...like an arm. And it wasn't alone; they could just barely make out two, maybe three others on the edge of the horizon.
“Is that a—” Rebecca would have said tornado, but she was interrupted. By a loud and echoing cracking. A sharp breaking in the ground, first at one point, then a thousand. Beyond the alley, the pavement on the main street split open. And in the same breath, a nightmare shot out.
Her whole life, through every moment, through every sensation, every experience, every seeming disaster, Rebecca had never been as disbelieving, as paralyzed, as horrified as she was in that single moment. The beast was long and worm-like; what she could see stretched out forty feet, but there was surely a larger body below the ground. In girth it was close to a sequoia. As it breached out from the asphalt and angled its head back towards the ground, its movement was smooth and unrestrained, but its body still looked segmented, with clear joint-like divides between the vertebra. But despite this seeming organization, there were still pointed bones jutting out at random angles from its hide. There were no visible eyes on its narrow, pointed head, but there was certainly a mouth. It had no hinge, no mandibles, simply layers of flesh folding and unfolding to expose its teeth. The teeth were not like a human's or even a shark's, they were like a machine's. They twisted, grooved, and curved—and the thing's mouth was lined with them, going all the way back to its throat. And somehow, around its black and white form, specks of darkness, with no shape or outline, swarmed like flies. It turned its head. It seemed to be looking directly at them.
For a second, Rebecca and Clara froze in place. The giant thing briefly leaned closer, as though studying them, then reared back. Whether from adrenaline or raw, blind panic, the girls sprinted across the alley, as the horrific creature smashed into the spot on the road where they'd been seconds before. Far too scared to look back, they ran out onto the other side, another open street...only to see the ground before them open up just as before. Rebecca dared to glance behind; the beast was still at their backs. Was this another creature, or just another head? She didn't care to know. Most of her brain was still shaking in fear, but in the split second before the crack widened, there was enough reason left to know not to run forward. Instead, she rushed to the nearest building, what looked like some sort of tenement, and threw open the door. She thanked whatever god was watching that it hadn't been locked. She threw herself inside and glanced back again; Clara was still with her, thank goodness, and a second, identical thing had emerged from below. Before it could set its eyes on them, she slammed the door shut, and ran deeper down the hallway, Clara close behind.
“What the hell!?” Rebecca forced out, “What the fucking hell!?”
“What the fuck is that thing!?” Clara said, sounding just as terrified, “Will it...will it follow us in here? I wouldn't be surprised if it can smash through walls...Are we...are we already dead?” Rebecca could see every line of fear on her face, every blood vessel in her eyes. She had seen her girlfriend sad, angry, afraid, but she had never looked so hopeless. And worst of all, Rebecca could guess her own face looked just the same. She tore her eyes away—then realized that at the other end of the hallway, there was an exit sign staring her right in the face.
“Back door! Back door!” She couldn't manage anything more coherent, but Clara seemed to get the message. They ran to the other end of the hall, and sure enough, there was a door out the back just to their right. Behind them, they heard a deafening slam, and the sound of crumbling walls. They didn't look back. Rebecca's heart skipped a beat when the door seemed stuck for a moment, but it just took a harder pull. They stepped out onto grass, some kind of public lawn. But the crashing sounds behind them didn't stop. From above, dust was shaken from the walls, and in the same moment, the ground below their feet began to shake. When she felt a hand grab onto her arm, she nearly screamed—but she was too dazed for even that. But it wasn't Clara...Clara had gotten out in front of her.
“What? Who…?”
“Follow me, keep your heads down, and as tempting as it might be, don't panic.” The voice was one she knew.
“...Ari?”
He didn't answer, or maybe he did but she was too shocked to register it. He pulled her forward, and she followed along. Anything was better than what was behind her. She kept her pace as fast as it could be without full-on sprinting, and as some of her focus returned to her, she could see that the man was indeed the same TA she'd seen less than an hour ago. He led her, and Clara, she could now see, across the yard; it took only a minute to get to the other side, but it felt like going in slow motion. The earth was still shaking, and she heard a loud smashing and crumbling behind her. She didn't look back.
Ari pulled them both into another alley and up a short set of stairs by the street, leading to a metal door and attached to a large brick building. He shoved open the and ran in, and Rebecca and Clara quickly followed. Inside, the rumbling under their feet was more muffled, but it was still very much there.
The building was large, spacious, and mostly empty; Rebecca was still too out of sorts to notice any details. Ari ran to an area in the corner and began pushing aside some boxes.
“This building is used as a rental warehouse these days,” he said, as if in answer to an unasked question, “But before that, it was a fire station. And more importantly...” He tossed aside the last box. “A fire station built during the Cold War.” Rebecca stepped closer, and she could now see a large metal trap door built into the floor. Ari pulled it open, revealing a long and slightly rusted ladder leading to a dimly lit room below.
“You should go down first,” he said, “I'll be right behind you.”
Rebecca looked at Clara, who curled her lip, then nodded. Without a word, Clara bent down and lowered herself through the square opening and onto the metal steps. Rebecca's heart skipped a beat when it seemed like she was stumbling, but she caught herself without any trouble. When she heard Clara's feet hit the floor below, Rebecca began climbing down herself, though parts of it were more like squirming, as she tried to keep her feet and her back straight. After stepping off the last rung, she looked around at the apparently-subterranean room. It was beige, tiled, with empty shelves lining two of the walls, and no furniture besides a few small chairs. She heard the trap door close above her as Ari began stepping down the ladder himself. As much as she wanted to demand an explanation, from him, or maybe from the world, there was something she desperately needed first. Turning to Clara, she reached out to her, and when she reached back, Rebecca pulled her into a hug. They held each other for a few moments, and something about having her right there, right in her arms, made Rebecca feel a little safer. There was no logic to it, not even any real emotional weight. They had been dating for a few months; it wasn't some truest, soul-binding love. But she was there, and she was real, and she was the one thing in any part of the mess they were in that Rebecca could actually understand.
As they eased away from each other, Clara grimaced, a very rare expression from her, “Do you think we could save movie night for tomorrow? I'm going to have enough trouble sleeping as is.” It was clearly meant as a joke, but there wasn't a lot of life in it. Still, Rebecca managed a smile.
“As bomb shelters go, this isn't the best,” Ari said, apparently content to leave movie night up to them, “But it's still got some thick concrete on every side; I can remember when it was laid down. We'll be safe for a while.”
“Ari,” Clara said, with a calmness that sounded very forced, “What was that thing?”
Ari shrugged. He actually shrugged. “There's no one name for them. They all look so different, there wouldn't be much point in calling them by the same name. Call them monsters, or demons, or abominations if you like.”
“So you do know what that was!?” Rebecca blurted out. “Well, whatever its name is, I want to know where it came from, why it's here now, and how we can stop it from killing us!” Rebecca was glad that she was at least coherent enough to ask.
“Listen, I didn't--” Ari began, but he was cut off by another loud, crumbling sound. Rebecca's feet suddenly felt much less steady, and she could hear a faint cracking. The noise didn't fully let up; even as she held her breath, she could hear earth shifting in every direction.
“This is...this is insane! Please, just...are we going to die?”
At this, Ari sighed and turned his head away, “Like I said, these walls are thick, but if that thing really decides it wants to kill us...there isn't anything that can really stop it.” He paused. “But their attention spans are pretty short. If we're lucky, it will try to smash its way in for a while, but then get too frustrated to continue before it actually breaks through.”
Rebecca took a deep breath, “So, we wait?” Ari just nodded.
Clara sat down in one of the chairs, and after putting her head in her lap for a few moments, seemed secure enough to speak again, “Is this one of those things that were always wild, and crazy, and fake that was actually real the whole time? Is this magic, aliens, hell, what?”
“A little of all of them,” Ari said, “But...” He began to pace. “But I can fix this. I didn't think it would ever happen this way, it wasn't supposed to happen this way, but I can still fix it.” He stopped and turned to them, “You're going to be okay, I promise. Just stay close to me, and hold on for a little longer. I'm not letting you get hurt, not ever.”
But with that last sentence, he went a little too far, and somehow, something seemed to click in Rebecca's mind, “But why just us?”
“What did you mean by that?” Ari said, with what seemed like a carefully neutral expression.
“Why are you trying to protect just us? Why not anyone else?”
“You could've just seen us on the street, but it's not like we were out in the open...” Clara said slowly. “And you must have seen other people who needed help, right?”
Ari sighed, and folded his arms, but he didn't seem angry, just hesitant.
“It would be impossible to find and shelter every person in the city, no matter how much we'd like to try. But I know a way to fix this. All of this. Not just for you, but for everyone. Hopefully, all of this will be over with just a little time, whether you're here with me, or not. What I don't know is what will happen after that. Hopefully...well, hopefully it'll be up to you. If you want, it can be like this never happened. You can live your lives exactly as they were before. Or, I can give you answers, and you can decide what they mean to you, and live with them as best you can. But I don't want to force you into that choice until I have to. Until we can put this behind us.”
“So...you're saying we just need to trust you?” Clara said.
“Well, you're certainly within your right not to. But I meant it when I promised I would protect you. Even if I can't be as open as I'd like to, you can trust me on that.”
Rebecca, for her part, couldn't think of anything left to say. That morning, she would never have guessed she would be where she was at that moment. In a bomb shelter, with a student-teacher who had seemed nice enough but who clearly had some side of his life she hadn't known...hoping that something that shouldn't have existed wouldn't smash its way in. It was only just starting to feel like reality, and even then, it still didn't make sense. When she thought about it, there was some appeal to what Ari said, about just pretending it never happened and letting her stay the same as it was before. But some part of her didn't want that. After everything she'd seen and felt, it would feel somehow...wrong. Some little voice, some stray thought, told her that she had to learn why. She had to know the whole truth. Horrors and all. It was just a small part in the swirling mix of fears and guesses and desperate hopes spinning through her mind, but it was there, and it was real.
The floor continued to rumble beneath their feet, punctuated by the shakes and cracks of some massive body slamming against concrete. They stayed, silently, for what could have been minutes or hours. Rebecca had no idea if the fear in her mind would make time seem faster or slower. Before too long she remembered that she still had her phone, but there was no connection, and she decided that checking the time too often would just make her more likely to panic. Finally, though, the sounds of shifting earth faded, and the room became still. After another minute, Ari slowly stepped back up the ladder and pressed his hands against the trap door. It didn't move.
Ari paused for a long moment, then let go of the rungs and jumped back down to the floor. And then, all at once, Rebecca's mind broke even further. Ari's clothes seemed to just melt into his skin, and his flesh itself turned from pink to a silvery black, which Rebecca realized a second later was actually hair. His arms and shoulders lengthened and widened, his back slumped over, and his head was now rounder, stockier, and only vaguely humanoid. Where he had stood, there was now a gorilla. The change was smooth and clean, and had taken only a second. If she hadn't almost died at the hands of a literal monster, Rebecca might have screamed.
“What the fuck!?” Oh, apparently it was Clara's turn.
The large ape, ignoring the two gawking teenagers it shared the room with, hoisted itself back up the ladder and slammed its hands against the door. After a moment, there was a scraping sound, coupled with the sounds of objects tumbling over each other, and the door gave way. Then, somehow managing to squeeze itself through the opening, the gorilla continued on to floor above. Rebecca hadn't thought it was possible for a situation to be describable as “awkward” while she was fearing for her life in a bunker, but the following moments of silent staring definitely qualified. But after shaking off her numb shock at seeing an ape transform into a different kind of ape, Rebecca slowly made her way back to the ladder and climbed up through the door, with Clara close behind.
What she saw on the surface, while less surprising than what she'd just seen, still made her heart beat louder. What was once a fire station turned warehouse was now a scattering of broken bricks and shattered tile. Three of the four walls that had surrounded them when they'd entered had been smashed to pieces, and the floor was covered in the wreckage of what had probably been the roof. To the side, where the offices and the like had probably been, was now a metal frame stripped bare of all but a few bits of concrete and wood. There was only sky above their heads, but there still wasn't much light; there were still black clouds as far as the eye could see.
Ari stood not far away, and had apparently decided to be a human again, clothes and all. He was gazing across the surrounding streets and buildings, some of which were in an equally ruinous state, maybe judging pathways or distances.
“Where are my mom and dad?” It was Clara who asked, but Rebecca felt like slapping herself for not asking the same question. The whole time, she'd only been able to think about staying alive, and whether Clara could stay alive with her. Any part of her brain that would've thought about the rest of the world had been shoved aside in the confusion. But once she finally had time to think...Clara had only asked “where,” but from the shaky tone, the way she was biting her lip, it was clear she was really asking something else. Rebecca herself didn't even dare to ask out loud.
“I can't say for certain,” Ari said. This time, though, his voice was calm, gentle. It put Rebecca slightly more at ease. “But based on what I could see of that thing's 'trail,' it seemed to be heading further into the city, meaning further from both of your homes. Your families are probably safe.” But then, he paused. “Others may be...” He shook his head, and his faced tightened. “Well. There's nothing we can do to stop it right at this moment, but we're still on track. I'll go west, and send for help. Help enough to keep everyone safe.” No sooner had he said it than his form began to shift again. This time, as his clothes faded and were replaced by hair, he hunched over, and both his arms and torso grew longer, until his forelimbs were touching the floor. His head stretched out and his feet became hooves; he was now a large brown horse. A second later, a saddle seemed to simply grow out of his back.
“It might be best if you come with me,” the horse said. Rebecca realized that seeing a horse talk in real life was much stranger than seeing it in a Disney movie; his lips were actually moving the way a human's would. “It's up to you, of course, but it might be safer to stick with me than to try and make it home on your own.”
Rebecca and Clara glanced at each other. “He did probably save our lives...” Rebecca said. Clara hesitated for a moment, then nodded. After some struggling, Rebecca managed to lift herself into the saddle, with Clara, being shorter, getting on in front of her. Rebecca had only seen real live horses a handful of times, and had ridden on them exactly zero of those times, but it seemed easier than it should have been. The shape of the saddle actually seemed to be shifting to allow for the snuggest fit possible. To her even greater surprise, a set of stirrups—two sets, actually—extended themselves out from the saddle and molded themselves around her and Clara's feet. With his passengers fully secured, the Ari-horse trotted its way through the rubble and began galloping down the street.
There was no one outdoors that they could see. A few cars were lying abandoned in the middle of the road, and a few empty vendor stands could be seen as well. Some of the surrounding houses had broken roofs or gaping holes in their walls, but thankfully, the majority of them seemed intact. Not long into the ride, Ari ducked onto a narrower section of street, only to be met with a large safety barricade, covered in warning signs, blocking the only way forward. Turning himself around, he backtracked and chose a wider road, which opened out onto a large traffic intersection. All of the lights were stuck on red, but more importantly, there were at least a dozen police officers standing weapons-out behind even larger metal barricades. All of them were wearing body armor, and armed with either shotguns or what looked like semiautomatic rifles. And all of them were facing a particular section of road beyond the barriers, keeping their gazes fixed and their weapons aimed.
“What do they think they're doing...” Ari muttered. The stirrups retracted, which Rebecca took as a signal to get off. Once she and Clara were back on the ground, Ari became a man again. He raised a hand, and Rebecca nodded, staying where she was as he approached the police line.
Apparently, the police were so focused on what was in front of them that they didn't notice Ari until he grabbed one of them by the shoulder—probably the lead officer judging by his cap and megaphone.
“What is this, some attempt at a killzone?” Ari said, with clear frustration.
“Return to your home, sir!” the officer said flatly.
“Listen, you can't kill these things. Not with normal weapons. A setup like this is barely going to slow them down.”
“Step away from the line, and return to your home, sir!” the man repeated.
“They're not made of normal matter! Bullets, explosives, napalm, electrocution, none of it hurts them! You should focus on evacuating people, get them to shelters, or get them out of the city, if you can. The attacks start at the more populated areas, so-”
“We don't need you telling us how to do our job, sir. Now leave the area immediately, or we'll have to escort you out!” The way he said “escort” suggested it would be nothing of the kind. But aside from the shouting, Rebecca could hear something in the distance—a rhythmic rumbling, but not like from wheels or even from shifting dirt. More like footsteps.
“Listen to me!” Ari didn't sound frustrated anymore, just desperate, “Unless those guns shoot superheated plasma, you're going to die! You're dealing with a threat unlike anything you've ever seen before, you have to see that! You need to-” But the policeman simply drew his pistol and slammed it against Ari's forehead. Ari didn't even stagger. Then the rumbling of rapid steps grew louder—and was met with the sound of gunfire.
Rebecca quickly angled her head to see past the barricades. There, standing at the crossroads, was yet another unearthly beast. This one was much smaller, but was still easily eight feet all at the hip. It was four-legged, with an arched back covered in razor-like spines, and two long spikes extended from its head. It reminded her of a boar, except boars had faces. That thing had only a mouth on its head, which was more of a gash, resembling an open wound, even if she could make out a few teeth inside it. Its feet, which were spiked and angular, ripped into the asphalt with every step it took. And like with the monster before, black specks, like little points of darkness, circled it like flies circled rotting meat.
The police were already shooting; bullets struck the thing's black flesh from every angle. It was nearly deafening. The thing didn't bleed. It didn't stumble. It barely even flinched. Almost too fast for the eye to follow, it lunged at the barricade, its tusk-like blades ripping into the metal. With a swing of its head, it throw aside the barrier like it was made of cardboard. The police didn't stop firing; Rebecca covered her ears and decided she couldn't keep watching. She sprinted back down the road, Clara still at her side. Ari was right behind them, and shifted back into a horse without even stopping. Once he slowed down, Rebecca managed to swing herself onto his back again, barely even noticing the friction burns on her hand. She helped Clara up onto the saddle with her, and then they were off again.
It took a minute of back tracking, but they found a street that wasn't blocked off, and continued riding west. They were approaching the edge of the city, and the surrounding houses were now mostly one-story, and spaced farther apart. Rebecca was beginning to get an idea of where they were going; on the west edge of town, across a bridge over the highway, was a side road leading to a series of smaller outlying towns. By the side of that road was a forested area, mostly disturbed by urban developments, where she had occasionally gone hiking with her family or her class. As far as she could guess, the plan was either to leave town and take refuge to the west, or to find some out-of-the-way cell tower or radio station in the wood. Of course, she had no idea what the actual details of it would be, especially when it came to getting “help.” Ari had already said that fighting the things was impossible, and Rebecca was inclined to believe him.
Sure enough, as Ari kept up a steady gallop and they left even the smaller houses behind, they came to the familiar bridge, complete with its “Now leaving city limits” sign. They were now some cars going by, both on their road and the highway below, but if any of them found the sight of two girls on a horse unusual, they didn't stop to question it. Rebecca noticed that all of them were going the same direction—out.
Ari crossed the bridge without incident, sticking to the side of the road to avoid the passing cars, and putting them within sight of the treeline. He circled around the guardrail and left the road—so, he was after something in the forest. Slowing down, he took them along the paths beneath the trees; with things now somewhat quieter, Rebecca thought about finally asking for an explanation, but doubted she would get one. Still, she was grateful for the sense of peace that came with being out of the city. Away from the nightmares.
“We're here,” Ari finally said. Rebecca looked up, and saw that they were directly in front of a set of boulders, which she recognized from earlier trips. There were six of them in total, all of them taller than they were wide, and they stuck out from a patch of ground just off the path. If one hauled in a few more and arranged them a bit more neatly, they would vaguely resemble some Celtic ritual site. Clara slid off of Ari's back, and Rebecca followed, and a moment later, Ari resumed his human form.
“Just stand back,” he said, “and if you could, hold your questions until the end.” He stepped up to the largest stone, the one in the center, and produced a knife out of seemingly nowhere. Clara angled her head around to get a better view of what he was doing. He knelt down and began making a series of scratches at the base of the stone, in what looked like a very specific pattern. All of a sudden, the rock shattered. There was no explosion, no impact; shards of rock simply split apart from each other and fell in a heap…revealing what had been hidden beneath.
It was a kind of small pillar, made of some strange, transparent crystal. At its center was a point of glowing violet light, while five prongs branched out horizontally near the top. It resembled a small, crystalline tree, or perhaps a more intricate kind of antenna. Furthermore, at tip of each of those prongs was a stone of a different color. Clockwise from the nearest one, they were black, white, cyan, deep blue, and red. And each of them had something carved on them—some strange symbol, of a design Rebecca had never seen before. But wait. No. It wasn't strange. It was all too familiar. She knew it well. She could read it.
Yes, each symbol was a word. As she looked at them, she found she could read them as easily as she could read a children's picture book. Her mind told her this made no sense, but her instincts told her she'd been reading words like those her whole life. The first one...Passion. Yes, that word meant passion. And then...passion, truth, fairness, serenity, resolve.
Resolve. Resolve. The last word hung in her mind.
Resolve resolve resolve resolve resolve resolve resolve.
She found herself shaking her head, rubbing her forehead. Resolve. The word wouldn't leave her thoughts. She glanced over at Clara, who seemed to be trying and failing to look away from one of the other stones. Ari, for his part, didn't seem to notice.
“Almost there...” He was tracing his finger along the surface of the crystal. “Almost...”
“Surprise.” It was a feminine voice, one Rebecca had never heard before.
Rebecca felt something cut into her back. She staggered forward; without even reaching around, she could feel a large, bleeding gash running across her skin. Before she could even process what had happened, a hand grabbed her and threw her back. As she fell to the ground, a woman stepped into view. She had short, black hair, wore a red, embroidered jacket...and had long blades where her arms should have been.
“Ari!” she said brightly. “It's been far too long.” No sooner had he turned around to face her than she rammed one of her blades through his chest. Rebecca could see blood, but his face showed no pain. Only anger. He grabbed the woman's arm and yanked it away from him, the blade sliding out and leaving a surprisingly clean hole. His skin closed up neatly, not leaving so much as a scar—and then, a second later, a large, brown bear standing at its full height. The animal roared and raked its claws across the woman's chest. However, Rebecca could still make out Ari's voice amid the growls.
“Whatever you're doing here, you'll answer to me for hurting her!”
“I'll 'answer' for it, will I? I'm shaking with terror. But really...” The woman stepped back and sliced off one of the bear's arms in a single stroke. “...can you go one trip without ruining my fun?” The severed arm didn't stay that way for long; somehow, before it even hit the ground, it seemed to dissolve into the air, and re-materialize, good as new, on Ari's ursine body. “That filth over there is bleeding out into the dirt and you're not even letting me watch!”
Ari plunged a set of claws into her face, “Leave her out of this!”
Somehow, the woman ripped herself away, contorted herself under his legs, and sliced a blade up through his back. “Aww, but no one wants to feel left out! What are you, some kind of playground bully?” She pulled her arm back and aimed for his neck. “Not willing to let the girls into your secret clubhouse?” With one giant paw, Ari reached back over his shoulder, grabbed the woman by the neck, and swung her over his head and into a tree. Pinning both of her arms against the trunk with his claws, then, with surprisingly agility for a bear, kneed her in the stomach.
“You will not endanger her any further,” he growled out. “You will not endanger this planet any further. I do not have time for any of your games.”
The woman just chuckled, “You know what your problem is, Ari? You have no imagination.”
The tree behind her cracked and smashed to the ground. Where she'd stood a moment before, a vast form rose. It was close to thirty feet tall, with reptilian flesh, a long neck, a spattering of feathers along its arms, and a narrow, sneering head. Its claws were each over a foot long. Rebecca had been watching the fight from where she lay, trying to keep her back pressed against the ground to avoid losing too much blood; Clara had rushed to her side as soon as she had room to move. The creature before them...it wasn't as nightmarish as the creatures they'd seen before. Put simply, it was a dinosaur. But it was large enough to crush them like insects. Rebecca struggled to her feet, preparing to run, though she she doubted it would really get them anywhere.
The dinosaur raised its giant hand, holding it above Ari—but then, for a second, it paused...and instead stabbed its claws into the crystal structure beside him. The pillar split, then shattered, and the violet light at its center was obscured as the great beast's hand lowered and closed around it. Then, in an instant, the dinosaur was a woman again, one with normal hands this time, her fist still clenched around whatever had been at the crystal's center.
“Nice you seeing you again, Ari,” she said with a malicious smile. “Now, I know you'll want to follow me, but I made sure to bring along a new toy for you to play with while I'm gone. Have fun.” With that, her form shifted into a bird, and she sped off through the trees. In less than a minute, she was out of sight. Rebecca looked to Ari, still in the form of a bear, who was rushing to put himself between them and the path to the road. In a moment, she realized why. Thundering footsteps. The sound of tree trunks breaking toppling. A dark shape speeding towards them through the trees.
The spiked, boar-like thing slammed into Ari and impaled him on its tusks. He grabbed its sides with his paws and struggled to hold it in place, but his hind legs were shaking. Clara made as if to run, but she hesitated, looking from Ari, to the path, to Rebecca.
“Can...can we just leave him?” she whispered. “I mean...he...”
“Go! Find somewhere to hide!” Ari shouted. “This is my...” The beast reared its head, ripping away some of his flesh in the process. “My responsibility! I can't—” But then the thing thrust its head forward and slammed him into a tree. He still didn't have any visible injuries, but he seemed slower to get up that time...Then the creature turned its head to the side. It looked straight at them. At her. And at Clara. A python, which had been a bear a moment before, slithered around its legs and made to trip it, but it simply pulled its feet back and began stomping the snake into the ground.
Rebecca was bleeding from her back. She was in mortal danger. Clara was in mortal danger. The man who, whatever he was, had tried his hardest to rescue them was being brutalized by a monster. But in her mind...there was still something she couldn't shake.
She looked to the ground. The stones that had been held in the crystal had fallen when it broke. She marked each of them in her mind. Passion. Truth. Fairness. Serenity. There was one missing. She crouched down and began sifting frantically through the dirt, until she saw it out of the corner of her eye. Resolve. She scrambled over and grabbed it, holding it tight in her hand. It was with her now. It was such a small thing, not really important in and of itself...but as she held it, some deep part of her mind seemed to stir. Something she hadn't know existed until she'd seen that one word. She didn't know what it was. Maybe she was just desperate for something to hope for. Maybe this was just some hidden insanity she'd always secretly suffered from, finally making itself known. There certainly wasn't anything about it that seemed to make sense. But she couldn't ignore it, any more than she could her the ground under her feet or the heart beating in her chest.
She turned to face the monster again. Ari had turned into a bull, and was trying to lock his horns against its tusks, but in just a moment, it threw him off again. Rebecca stepped forward. She couldn't stay silent. And as it happened, that strange, illogical side of her she'd just discovered told her exactly what to say. It was automatic. It was like breathing. Despite herself, her lips began forming the words.
“I reach for the apex, and my hold is firm.” Apex? Hold? Was she a rock climber?
“I will stand atop the spire, vigilant over land and void.” What spire? The words were just coming our of nowhere, with no meaning behind them, but she still needed to say them.
“I will be sword and shield, to those who have none.” Yes. It was getting clearer.
“I will rise, until rising is a memory, and the world surrounds me.” But wasn't she already surrounded by the world? No, it didn't matter! One part left.
“With this, my oath, let the flames rise, and crash down upon all that is blighted and cruel.” Suddenly, everything went white. For a moment, she could no longer feel the ground under her. She was floating in the air. No, not just in the air. Floating outside the world. Around her there was only energy, and empty space. There was a searing, burning sensation in her eyes, but somehow it didn't bother her. She could feel parts of her body growing, molding themselves into new shapes, but it was nothing compared to what she was feeling inside of her. Her insides were on fire, but there was no pain. Just a warming, crackling blaze spreading from her heart to every corner of her body. And then the fire wasn't inside her anymore. It was her. It was her blood, her bones, her nerves. In her last second in that blinding expanse, she was someone else. Still herself, but not just her old self. Something new.
And then, her feet were on the ground again, and the dark beast was again in her sight. But this time, everything seemed just a little smaller. She looked at her arms, her legs, the ground...She was now about six and a half feet tall. And her clothes—for a moment she didn't even notice, because they still felt as light as any cloth, but now she was clad head-to-neck in smooth plated armor. It was silvery in color, but between the joints she could see a faint red glow. She could also glimpse strands of her hair in the corner of her eye, and it was red. Not ginger or copper, but crimson. Her injuries were gone, and not just the cut across her back. Every scar and scrape on her body had been smoothed down. And...was something wrong with her ears. She reached up and felt the side of her head. Her ears were pointed. She would've thought that major changes to her body would've scared her more, but the changes felt right, somehow. Felt like something she had been working for from the word “resolve.”
And besides, she had more important things to worry about. The faceless beast suddenly didn't seem nearly as frightening as before. The part of her that had taught her the oath knew what it really was. Not a nightmare to be feared, just an enemy to be slain. She reached to her side and felt a circular hilt attached to her hip. She took hold of it and raised it up. No blade, just hilt. No matter. She fixed her gaze on the boar; fortunately coming to terms with her transformation had taken less time than it felt, and it was still preparing to charge. She would beat the thing to it.
She closed the distance between them in an instant; even something as simple as running now felt like a surge of power. In a smooth motion, she slammed her hilt into the beast's head and grabbed hold of its tusk to yank it off balance. It recoiled and snarled—a response not provoked by a hundred bullets. She didn't let up, hammering the edge of the into the side of its head until she heard what sounded like the crack of bone. The beast, however, twisted itself around and slammed its tusks into her side, sending her to the ground. It reared up to trample her, but she rolled out of the way, then grabbed onto one the spines on its back. She dug her boots into its side and managed to lift herself up until she could grab hold of its neck, then she again began pounding at its head with her hilt. The spines jabs and scraped at her armor, but it held firm. The spines, though, had less friction than she'd expected, and as the thing shook and kicked, she was thrown to the ground again. She scrambled to her feet, and despite herself, she brandished her hilt, trying to look every bit the warrior she wanted to be.
Honestly, she still had no idea what she was doing. She was still just Rebecca Linder, the scared average girl whose world was coming apart. But from that moment when the ground had erupted in front of her, up to right then, she had been helpless—so right then, it was enough she wasn't helpless anymore. She had everything she needed, she knew it. She could protect Clara. She could protect the world, if she had to. Whether for love or honor, or just resolve for its sake, she would burn that thing down. Burn. Yes. That fire was still a part of her. If she could reach it, channel it—she didn't know how, but that didn't mean she couldn't try.
The monster stamped at the ground. She breathed in, and imagined that instead of air flowing into her lungs and blood, it was heat and flame. All she had to do was send it out. She exhaled, and imagined the flame gathering at one point and flowing outward as a stream. Almost realizing it, she could feel her free hand burning—but again, there was no pain. The monster charged her. She shot out her arm in its direction; the flame remained firmly affixed to her hand. No matter. She braced herself, stepped slightly to the side, and latched her hand onto the thing's mouth as it slammed into her. Even as she was knocked back, she tore at the inside of it with her burning fingers, leaving what looked like some nasty wounds. Unfortunately, she then found herself pushed back into a tree, with the monster's tusks locking her in place. It jerked forward, pressing its tusks tighter against the wood, and bringing its mouth inches away from her face. Fortunately, her hands were still free; before it had a chance to go in for a bite, she jammed her hilt into its mouth, locking its teeth in place. For good measure she shoved her other hand, the one with flames surrounding it, into its mouth again as well. Holding the hilt and the flame so close together, she started to realize what was missing.
For a moment, Rebecca and the monster pushed against each other, struggling to force each other back. Then Rebecca heard a sound from outside her field of view—the crackling of flame that was becoming increasingly familiar with. But it wasn't from anything she'd made. She turned her head. Clara and Ari were now standing in the open, holding makeshift torches of their own. Apparently, they'd had time to gather some branches and flint while the thing was focused on Rebecca. Ari was trying to push Clara behind him, but she just waved her burning branch more frantically.
“Over here, you filthy thing!” she shouted. “Try your luck against us!” Maybe the beast was getting frustrated with Rebecca and wanted easier prey, or maybe it was too stupid to tell the difference between its fire-wielding targets. Either way, it slid its tusks away from the trunk and began turning towards them. Their good intentions aside, Rebecca wasn't going to let that happen. She grabbed a tusk with her free hand and jerked its head back toward her, then in a single motion she struck it across the head with the hilt once more and brought her hands together. She had idea, and she decided she had to test it sooner or later. She jabbed her burning hand into the center of the hilt, then drew it forward in an arc. Sure enough, the lingering flames formed themselves into a sharp curve, extending more than four feet out from the hilt's center. So that was the blade.
Now armed with a fully-fledged weapon, she slashed across the monster's head and down onto its legs, the fiery scimitar searing its flesh and sending small flames dancing across its spines. The beast angrily knocked her back with a blow to the scythe, and again turned to Clara and Ari. At that point, Rebecca wondered if it just wanted to make something, anything, suffer. Somehow, her hatred at that got her mind working faster. She dug one of her feet into the nearby tree trunk, then lifted herself a few feet in the air, and plunged her sword into the monster's neck—just as it had broken into a run. The force of its own momentum caused the flaming blade to rip through its body, cutting a huge wound across its back as deep and it was long. As Rebecca tore the sword away from its flesh, it could only make it a few more feet before collapsing to the ground. There was no blood that she could see, but its body was in tatters. Slowly, its skin and innards seemed to flake off and drift away onto the wind, and the specks of darkness dissipated. Finally, what remained of its corpse dissolved into black smoke, before rising up to join the black clouds in the sky above.
Rebecca turned back to her girlfriend, “Clara...” She realized that was her first word in her transformed body. Her voice sounded almost the same, but had an odd lilt to it that she hadn't meant to speak with. But then she noticed a conspicuous absence. “Where did Ari go?”
“As soon as you sliced up that thing, he ran off. I think he might have turned into a bird...”
Before Rebecca could think on that, she began to feel something slipping away from her. Her senses were getting foggy, the flame was diminishing. That once-hidden part of her told her this was normal—the danger had passed, and the power within her could return to dormancy, for the time being. This time there was no blinding light, no sense of leaving the earth—she simply closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she was a normal girl, with rounded ears, and no flaming scimitar. She slumped forward, feeling dazed, but Clara quickly walked up to her and pulled her into a hug.
“Rebecca...That was amazing. You were amazing. How did you even…?”
“I don't know. I felt like I had to do something, so I...I just...” Rebecca was suddenly very tired, and more than a little scared. When she'd had something to fight, something to focus on, she didn't need to worry about “how” or “why.” But as soon as she was safe, and could take a good, hard look at the situation, she had to ask—what even was she?
“Rebecca,” Clara said, almost seeming to read her mind. “You were a superhero. You were an elf superhero. You just saved my life. Heck, you probably saved a lot of lives. I mean, it's not like I know what's going on any more than you do, but this time, I'm happy to learn that there was something about the world I never thought was possible.” She looked Rebecca in the eye and, maybe seeing that there was still some fear there, sat down and gently nudged Rebecca down with her. “Do you want to just sit for a while, like we do at the park?” Rebecca nodded. She had to admit, the forest was a pretty nice place when there weren't monster attacking her and her friends.
After a few moments, Rebecca spoke up, “I wasn't an elf.” As she said it she strained to smile, to show Clara that she wasn't really annoyed.
“Oh, you were definitely an elf,” Clara said, chuckling a little. “A fearless she-elf warrior, doing battle with the forces of darkness.”
Rebecca chuckled too, “Stop it.”
“And, again, you were pretty much an elf superhero. Alternate identity and everything. Do you think we should give her a name?”
“Her?”
“The super-powered version of you. Carol Danvers is Captain Marvel, you're…?”
Rebecca sighed, but somehow, she couldn't bring herself to say no. “Elf-girl?”
Clara laughed, “How about 'The Elven Flame?' Burning brightly in the face of evil?”
Rebecca smiled, and this time it wasn't strained at all. “Leave out the 'the,' and I'll allow it.”
There were a few more moments of silence, then Clara said, “That horrible woman...do think she and Ari were the same...well, the same kind of person?”
“They both had some kind of shapeshifting,” Rebecca replied slowly. Shapeshifting seemed like such a strange word to be saying in a serious context, but it was what it was. “I mean, she turned into a dinosaur. How many laws of physics does that break?” She paused. “That was a dinosaur, wasn't it?”
“I think it was a Therizinosaurus, yeah. And I don't know for sure, but I don't think the laws of physics as we know them apply to this case.” She shrugged. “Mr. Sawyer's always going on about how Newtonian physics are an abstraction, anyway. I guess we could be hallucinating, but if it's this detailed then I don't know how we'd ever tell the difference.”
“Well...that woman seemed to want us dead, but she ran when the monster showed up. Maybe she's just a coward after all. And if she is...well, we can survive by being brave.” At that, Clara nodded, and gave a soft smile.
There was another stretch of silence, until Clara said, “So, what should do now? With Ari gone I don't think we'll get many answers.”
“I'd like to go home, really,” Rebecca said. “I...I want to make sure it's safe.”
“Me too, honestly.” She bit her lip. “But we'll meet up again soon, right?”
“Of course.” With that, they walked out from the woods and back into the city, across the bridge and passed what was now a large jam of cars competing for the roads out to the countryside. Even with the sky choked by the dark cloud, they were vaguely aware that night had fallen. Finally, they reached the split in the road that would take them to their respective neighborhoods. Rebecca kissed Clara on the cheek, and they both walked on alone.
It seemed like an eternity since Rebecca had last walked up to her own door, even though she had stepped out of it just that morning. She threw open the door, and saw her mother standing by the stairs. Her mom didn't waste a second before rushing to her and holding her tight.
“Oh, thank god! Thank god!”
Rebecca hugged her back just as hard, “Mom, I'm so sorry! Clara and I got trapped, and we had to take some roads to stay safe, and...” She didn't have the breath to say more.
To her mother's immense credit, she then said, “Is Clara safe?”
Rebecca nodded, “Yes, she's fine. She should be back home now.” By that point, Rebecca could see her mom was crying, and she realized she was, too.
“Rebecca, did...did you see them? Did you see those things? I heard they were attacking people right near our street, and I thought you might've been...” She just buried her face, now soaked with tears, into Rebecca shoulder.
“Yes, I did, I...I saw them, but one of them's dead now! I saw it die, and maybe the other one can be killed in the same way, and then maybe this can be over!”
Her mother straightened herself, but now there was a look of dread on her face. “Oh, Rebecca, there have been reports of them everywhere.”
Rebecca's expression went blank. Her mind went numb. She could hear the TV on in the living room. She let go of her mom, and walked slowly toward the sound of the news report. The man on the screen was reading a list of names. New York. Hong Kong. London. Riyadh. Beside him was a video feed cutting between cameras every second. There was a different monstrosity on every one of them. Off to the side was a world map...covered almost completely by red dots.
Rebecca stared unmoving at the screen until her parents pulled her up to bed.
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