Lament of the Slave

Chapter 100: Heat

Time seemed to freeze as I watched the blazing bolt of lightning heading straight for me in horror. Faster than a crossbow bolt, more terrifying than Freyde's sword. There was no doubt in my mind that I would not escape this, nor would my barrier be strong enough to stop it.

Yet, it wasn't what took my breath away, what stopped me in my tracks and made my heart stop beating. That was the flour dust ignited by Meneur's magic.

Only a fool would try to escape the blast, so I hit the ground, curling into a ball just moments before taurus's magic hit me. I wasn't quick enough to erect the shield, though the actual forming of it was unusually slow, as if affected by the sluggish passage of time.

But it was moving, and so an unsuppressed scream tore from my throat half a breath later when the magic scorched my back and burned deep into my body. It was only after that when a barrier formed around me. Too late, yet I wished I could create more layers and hoped this one would at least somewhat protect me from what was to come.

Hiding Sage, as well as my wings beneath me as best I could, I dropped my ears down to my head and put my hands on top of it. The last-ditch effort to hide and protect Esu's gift underneath them. Then, since I didn't know any prayers, I braced myself for a lot more pain, just as time began to move at a normal pace again, seemingly in sync with my heartbeat.

All hell broke loose.

The world around me fell still for a second before all the flour dust, or whatever it was, ignited all at once in one earth-shaking explosion. Even though I flattened my ears, the boom of the blast made them bleed and my world eerily silent.

Then came the pressure wave, though it didn't hit me with the force I imagined. It was so weak the barrier covering me did not shatter as I feared. That was good, for worse was to come, the heat. The blazing flames were so hot they burned through the barrier, my only protection, in a flash.

I could feel it inside me, the damage, the heat that my skill tried to spread through my body. It was nothing compared to what was out there around me and now scorching my skin.

Except I didn't feel the searing agony that was supposed to come that I suffered when Meneur's magic hit me. I...I felt safe and protected. It was baffling. Did Deckard come to my rescue? What about watching city guards? Did they intervene? No, it wasn't either of them. What I perceived around me, not to mention the flames of the explosion, blew my mind.

Surrounded by raging flames, I was covered in a layer of what seemed to be a fluff that resisted the heat. Was it the moss? A ridiculous notion, I realized as soon as I shook off the shock and looked closer.

It was my mane.

My usually chin-long hair now somehow covered my entire huddled form like some kind of heat-resistant blanket. With no idea what to think anymore, I had a hard time figuring out what was more surprising. That my mane just made me feel pleasant warmth instead of scorching heat or the fact that my hair could reach mid-thigh length in seconds?

Magic, it seemed like magic. And it really was. I could feel the draining of mana, and not a little of it. At that moment, I laughed. I laughed so hard I burst into tears.

I didn't go crazy. It was all just too overwhelming. So much happened in the blink of an eye. Things that I hadn't imagined in my wildest dreams and were hard to take in. They made me an even bigger freak than I thought, but right now...I was so damn glad for it.

In what I could have sworn were long minutes, the explosion passed, and the flour powder was replaced by the raised dust of the training ground and smoke. Standing in the aftermath of the blast, I sent mana into my burned back and ruptured eardrums.