Defeat of Sybaris

The Meeting

The second time I saw her was on a cold Monday morning. Fog still glowing above the countryside. The road before me was wet from yesterday night's rain. It was cloudy and still a bit dark.

I saw her on my way to school on my first school day. I was late entering the new school year, reason being that my parents decided to move in the middle of the year.

I remember being alone and searching for the right path, not knowing where to go yet. I remember smelling the grass and the fresh fallen rain. Then I remember smelling sulphur.

Almost immediately after smelling the stench coming from who-knows-where I saw her. The girl I saw in the window.

She was acting strange.

The girl was moving in a weird way. She looked to be struggling.

I stepped off my bike, ¨Hey, are you okay?¨ I questioned.

The blond girl grunted, but did not grant me an answer.

I was torn between two choices: helping the girl and being late for my first school day or stepping on my bike and continuing my path. I chose to help her, in whatever way I could, choosing to be late on my first day of school.

I threw my bike on the ground and walked up to her and asked again, ¨Are you alright?¨

A scream, no, a screech waved through the air around us into our ears. The smell of sulphur was almost unbearable.

She pushed me into the wet grass behind her. She was strong. I fell hard. My elbow scraped over the ground and was now bleeding. My school uniform was wet, muddy and dirty. I yelled, ¨Hey!¨

She jumped forward to where the screech came from, and struggled to get closer to it.

It was vague at first, but when I looked closer I saw it. A creature with gills and scales, twitching and twirling on the wet pavement. It seemed to be wounded. It had a fleshy pink cut on its shoulder.

When I looked at the girl I saw a blood-covered sword in her hands. She was panting and her breath hitched when the tail of the creature hit her in the stomach. The girl fell to the ground.

It took my breath away.

I couldn't move.

The girl stood up and she seemed to be okay. She lunged toward the creature and slashed it. Her sword glided through its flesh. It screeched again. Agony filling the air. The girl did not show any compassion for the creature when it tried to hurt her again. She stabbed it between the ribs just before it could bite her.

The creature fell to the ground.

The girl turned to look at me, panting, ¨Did I hurt you?¨

¨No¨ I lied. The scrape on my elbow was burning like crazy.

¨Are you sure? You're bleeding.¨ she noted.

¨I'll live¨ I told her. "Are you alright? You're the one who fought that thing." I asked.

"I'll survive", she told me. She noticed my school uniform and asked me "You're heading to Werthens too?"

"Yes," I answered. "You too?"

"Yeah." she replied. "I'm sorry that I pushed you, I just didn't want you to get hurt"

"It's alright, I'm just a bit muddy." I said.

"Me too, though we really ought to get going if we want to make it on time."

I asked, "Can we still make it?"