Heroes and Wolves [book 1]

Chapter fifteen

Layla

As soon as I raise my hands, a circle of white light forms on the floor around me. Blue mist begins to seep and rise slowly from it.

The wisps of blue thicken as it continues to swirl and grow above me. I'm now cocooned in a light blue wall of fog. I'm warm and my breath is slack from this sudden change in perspective. I can't see anything.

     "I'm still here" Maylock reassures. "Just wait a little bit more"

For what?

But my query is soon answered as cracks form at the top. These dark chiselled marks lengthen and at the sight, apprehension reaps through my body and spreads to the tips of my fingers. How can smoke crack? But I don't have time to even think of an answer as the cracks have broadened so much that the entire thing tumbles down in a plume of dark blue smoke. I wince and protect my head to prepare for the impact but the smoke gently passes me and covers the entire floor. This is baffling. I've never seen anything like it before.

     "Good. Keep still for this bit" Maylock tells me as the smoke gradually flows back around me but then starts to gain speed gradually. It's as if I'm in the centre of a vortex. The spinning smoke rises higher than it reached before and the white circle below glows brighter and highlights the entire cave.

Some of the smoke veers off and begins to concentrate into my open palms. It's like I'm reeling the mist as it's flooding into my palms, actively mixing and forming a grey, mysterious sphere that I'm keeping up in the air by my hands.

     "You have been chosen!" Maylock announces but I don't reply as all my focus is driven onto the sphere in my hands.

While the smoke has now stopped flowing into my palms, it's still billowing around me at a fair bit of speed. My clothes ripple and strands of my hair are being blown by it. It's not slowing down. I'm stuck in the middle of this storm, with misty winds blowing quite violently around me and the sphere of smoke within my hands. It's not heavy but it's getting hard to keep hold of it as other forces batter me, annoy me and challenge me.

Grimacing to stay determined in holding this sphere, small slashes of red show within it and pain twinges from where I was scratched by the monster.

     "Maylock" I mutter as my breathing gets heavier and my arms start to ache.

     "Keep going" he urges, his voice firm and persistent.

The light from the circle on the floor begins to dim.

     "What does the red mean?" I ask out of urgent curiosity as this pain only started since the showing of that dangerous colour. I hate red. It signifies all that's bad in the world.

     "The angel is checking everything. Your past, your present and your future"

     "My past!" I almost drop the sphere out of shock.

No wonder it was red.

     "Hey" Maylock mutters. "You got this. There's only a little more to go"

The swirling mist lessens and I decide to look up. Maylock is facing me. His curly hair is being blown slightly but his eyes are glazed in care and locked on to mine.

      "That red was just a check to see if it chose right. I had yellow when I was chosen" as he says that, green forms within the sphere, then orange and blue. They all mix within the sphere, creating a flow of combined colour but this awe-inspiring look is hampered by the rising pain from my shoulder.

     "But the pain" I wince.

     "You're in pain?" his brow creases with confusion.

The pain expands, smothering my back and creeping down my arms and legs. It's a searing stab that's constant.

     "I don't know if I can do this" My heart is thundering and I start to sweat.

I flinch and grit my teeth as I kneel down on one leg for some relief. Still keeping the sphere held up and stable in my palms, my knee locks and I can't move it.

     "Maylock" I look up at him but he's not there. "Maylock!" All the colours in the sphere disappear and my head suddenly tilts back.

Each of my fingers stiffen and the pain all around my body pierces. I yell. I scream until I can't anymore and the sphere explodes, coating me and the cave in a thick dark smoke.