Auria__.azriel

Homecoming

Auria ignored the pain in her bones and the immense weight of her every limb as she ran through the sandy path. Breathing was hard through the thick black mask she wore, but it was that or have her lungs be poisoned by the dust that floated up like a cloud with her every step.

"Where is it?!"

"There! Kill it!"

The mob coming after her were relentless and bloodthirsty. But, then again, so had been their ancestors, and ancestors' ancestors. After centuries of being trapped in this forsaken place, this little game of cat and mouse had become routine. She knew they saw her, and that was exactly what she wanted. An arrow flew over her shoulder, and then another and another.

"Come on, come on. Just a few more steps" she mumbled.

When the steep cliffs came into view, Auria took a sharp left. She ran straight for the wall and looked up to check everything was in place. She turned around and backed herself up into a corner. When they saw she had nowhere else to run, the angry mob slowed their place and many scowls turned to wicked smiles as they got closer to their prey.

Their leader, a tall man with a foggy eye, lifted his sword to point at her. "Take your last breath, demon. Savor it. Make one sudden movement and I will slice you and leave you for the vultures to finish."

Auria lifted her hands ever so slowly as if in surrender. As soon as her hands were above her shoulders, she lifted her gaze from the man to a spot behind him and before the man could move, the girl reached behind her neck for a small blade and threw it in his direction.

He barely had time to gasp before he felt a sharp sting on his cheek. The man touched his cheek, his eyes wide in shock, and looked down to find blood on his fingers. Little did he know he wasn't the target, the rope on the wall behind him was.

His voice was consumed by white hot rage as he said through gritted teeth. "I shall have your head, demon!"

Then, slowly, Auria lifted a finger telling him to wait and with the same pointed to her ear telling him to listen. He was shaking with rage at her impertinence, when he realized he wasn't the one shaking. It was the ground. The sound of rumbling reached his ears, rumbling which he could tell was coming closer and closer. 

The man went pale, his expression no longer showing anger but panic. He along with the mob looked to their right, where the sound was coming from, and found their suspensions to be correct. An enormous boulder, the size of two elephants, was coming directly for them. 

"RUN!" Someone in the group screamed. 

But it was too late. 

Tucked tightly into the rocky corner, Auria watched as the once ferocious men forgot her existence, and tried to flee for their lives. But they had noticed much too late. Some tripped, others pushed others out of their way, but she had led them here because the space between the tall cliff walls was narrow, and the only way out was now obstructed by the rock. There was no escape.

As she saw the looming shadow of the boulder fall on the men, she shut her eyes tightly. It was a brutal way to die, and a brutal way to kill. After all this time, a part of her still agonized with every kill. Her nature was to bring healing, not demise. However, the other part of her, the realistic part, knew this was what survival meant. It had kept her alive for thousands of years, and since she didn't have access to her magic in this wasteland, it was the only way. Empathy was something she couldn't afford here. It'd already cost her too much.

When the ground stopped shaking, she opened her eyes. The once thin white sand was now thick as cement and a bright crimson. The men's faces were indistinguishable, every bone broken, every organ burst. The smell of iron invaded her nostrils and she noticed her clothes and face had also been stained with the sprayed blood of her prosecutors.