ENCHANTED: Guardian Series #1 {COMPLETED, UNDER REVISION}

CHAPTER 23: Bloodshed

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
TAHOMMA'S AUTUMN 
 
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ETHERION REALM
 

-Maya Village-
The hurling of the wind that created the potential for a storm did not scare the Maya Villagers. What was more terrifying was the creature they saw. It was no longer the sweet-looking Mariah Miri, a caring fellow villager of theirs with broad knowledge about medicinal plants. She usually healed the wounded and made sure that they were safe. Who would have thought that the horrid monster before them was the same person?

Miri knocked the trees down with one hit, despite having a frail physique. Her skin was black, and her hair suddenly grew long. Scales of black with a popping red fumes of flames that was enough to grill a person alive. From her curly, brown hair, it changed to a dirty white. Such a drastic change that no one could tell the similarities between an innocent looking lady to a hideous monster. On one side of her arm, a tattoo with a dark purple glow appeared.
 
"Curse?" Leonard spewed the exact same words as his mother's. He unsheathed his weapon as he charged forward without hesitation. Kaira, on the other hand, aided the villagers from evacuating, letting Leonard handle the situation.
 
He swung the sword diagonally, but Miri unexpectedly dodged it. Before he could have another attack, something tripped him.
 
Thud.
 
Another surprise from the creature in front of him was that it had a tail! A tail that's similar to a crocodile's but has sharper edges. Leonard's ankle had a deep cut that caused him to have difficulty moving. The tail moved again, which made him leap on a branch behind him. As his feet touched the brach, his fresh blood squirted.
 
"Ha!" he gasped in pain, grabbing his long sleeves and then forcefully tearing the fabric. While wrapping his ankle, Miri started to walk towards the tree he was on. Her fingernails grew and resembled claws that punched through the hard wood. Soon, her strength was exerted on each tip of her fingers so that she was able to pluck the tree like a flower. The roots were also out, creating a crack in the ground. She did that without breaking a sweat while roaring the thunders above their heads.

Gray clouds gathered at one place, clashing a sound of boom! The antelopes that was near the woods had leaped out of the scene as the rabbits dug in their burrows. The wind kept howling as the wolves stood still, guarding the territory they had claimed.
 
Leonard landed on a boulder of stone that was soon crushed by Miri's powerful punch.

TAK!

Once again, Leonard tried to avoid the incoming attacks but his timing was off. Was it because of his injured ankle? Or perhaps he had hesitations? If he did had hesitations, to which extent he would doubt himself? Whatever he was thinking, he shouted the person's name while dashing with a blade in his hand. "Mariah Miri!"

/a flashback/
"Everyone, settle down!" shouted the professor as he turned around to face his noisy students. He caught Leonard's eyelids gradually shutting down as he tried to fight his drowsiness. The professor took that opportunity to call the Second Young Prince by his name only, smirking in a mocking manner. "Leonard!"
 
The Young Prince immediately snapped back, quickly standing up when he heard the professor. "Yes?"
 
"Leonard, do tell me; what will you do if you encounter a cursed person?"
 
The young Leonard was taken aback by the question given to him. He took a moment to think about his answer. Folding his arms as he thought about the question, he soon gave the professor a shrug, "That depends."

He tried to formulate his words so they would not be misinterpreted. "If the cursed person does not harm others (physically), then I'll let them be. But if the cursed person brings disaster to the land, then I'll eliminate them."
 
"Mmmm," the professor hummed, nodding to Leonard's response. Before he let his young student take his seat, he asked him another question, which Leonard was not able to answer because the professor couldn't even finish his statement. And that question was, "What if that person is someone important to someone else?"
 
"And that someone—"
 
Ring

He heard the professor clicked his tongue, grumbling words underneath his teeth. The professor took his books and lecture plans while complaining about his twenty minutes session per classes. It was truly unfair but his subject had no importance to some curriculum.

As Leonard packed his books, he wondered what was the question given to him. Thus, he decided to ask the professor personally during lunch break. Unfortunately, he was not able to. Even until Leonard graduated the Academy, he kept thinking about the unfinished question.
/end of flashback/
 
"Get back to your senses!" he continued swinging the sword, aggressive yet careful at the same time. This monster was bold enough to grab Leonard's sword, rounding her fists. Her skin was surprisingly hard, and the sword that Leal forged with his best materials was shattered to pieces. No one could imagine the surprise in Leonard's eyes, filled with horror. He could see the falling shards of the sword slowly made its place on the ground of dirt. He could see her expression; eyes of agony and groans of melancholy. The time seemed to have slowed down that he could tell that this person was being controlled.

His eyes were widened, clenching at the grip of his shattered blade. He did not know what to do. He had not thought of this far ahead. What will happen to the land he wholeheartedly protected?

As this occurred, a powerful shout bellowed across the Maya Village's territory. From behind the monster that Leonard fights, an incoming ball of flames shoots directly at her back, ending the distortion of the time wrap.
 
Leonard fell on his buttocks as he watched the monster perish under the flames. An intensifying heat that's enough to melt any material. Leonard recognized such a magnificent aura that he quickly leaped backwards, letting the other person deal with the raging curse. However, instead of being glad that he was rescued from getting slaughtered, he was mortified by what he saw.
 
A sword of aura passed through the hard flesh of the curse, which caused the monster to gradually vanish. The once innocent-looking lady had been tainted by dark magic. Her beautiful skin had blood and wounds that would probably leave a scar. A scar that will penetrate her sweet image.
 
As the sword of aura disappeared, a trail of blue dots that soon changed to green touched the wrecked woods and the other villagers that got minor injuries. Kaira, who was performing healing magic, got surprised by the dots floating around them. She had not seen an ability transcending above the maximum level. It was an ability that only a few percentage of people can do.

The youngsters were amazed by the magic that they started jumping in an attempt to catch it. They simply thought it was fireflies, healing their hurt hearts. The old ones thought that they were hallucinating, healing their tired minds. Yet, those tiny dots were a real deal. They did heal the in-need.

Kaira suddenly stood up, sniffing the air that surrounds her. Her nose first caught the scent of blood, which made her feel nervous, but as soon as she smelled the scent of the Princess Consort Dahrleen, she was relieved.
 
Sigh.
 
She decided to stay with the villagers to tend to them, not even realizing that she somehow changed.

'I was wondering why the Princess Consort herself would visit them,' she puffed. 'Not unless the situation that had happened was no longer in their control.'

Kaira then, blew a quiet sigh as she analyze the situation. Every villager was there, except for Miri. She felt responsible for what had happened, knowing that they share a secret. But again, she cannot just disclose it to others.
 
The green dots continued to move around, healing people and nature. A calm vibe spread throughout the woods, where the doe settled with her child. The birds that were about to migrate nested for a moment, feeling that it was already safe.

However, Kaira only had a heavy chest while rethinking her past decisions. Was it the right thing to do?

Until the autumn wind had passed, she was unsure of what will happen next.

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Author's Note

Hi, hello! Thank you for reading this "Chapter Twenty: Tahomma's Autumn"! I hope to see you in the next chapters.

By the way, I used the word 'black' here to describe the change in Miri's skin color, which is literally black. As in the color of a charcoal with the red fumes.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!

-SagittarianJoy-
( September 17, 2023 )