The Last Red Year

TWENTY-FOUR: Force of Nature

 For a moment, the world is still.

Everything hangs in a single heartbeat. Sorine's eyes are wide, an expression of shock frozen on their face. Mauragan is halfway to their feet, Kas's hand clutching at the side of an overturned table as they try to follow them. Bright red blood hangs from Mirei's dagger, a droplet suspended in the air only seconds from hitting the floor.

Time rushes back into the world, slamming into Kas like the ground after a long fall. They watch Mauragan as they run to Sorine's side, barely able to move. The world is spinning, and they're still stuck in place. Mirei and Ghiliss have let their magic fall away. They both just stand there. Watching. Calculating.

Kas wishes for blue magic like Mirei's. They wish for the power to snatch them up and slam them against the wall until their skull splits open and their brains spill out. They wish for a blade of golden light like Kizlane's yellow magic, solid enough to run Mirei through with it. Yellow is the color of justice, and they wish for justice now.

Mauragan falls to their knees at Sorine's side, pulling their still body into their arms with a strangled, guttural noise so deep it sounds like it belongs to someone else. Sorine doesn't move. Their eyes are open, fixed forever on a pinpoint of light nobody else can see. The violet fire has gone out. Without the magic that flowed through them in life, their empty eyes are dull and gray.

Beneath their bloodstained tunic, something buried in their chest begins to glow with a gentle purple light.

Mirei reaches for their dagger, aiming to strike at Mauragan, but Kas moves faster. They reach out, snapping them and Ghiliss into placelocks more powerful than they thought they were capable of. They don't know what's happening. They don't know what they're witnessing. All they know is that it can't be interrupted.

A floating ball of violet light, curved and pointed like a heart, emerges from Sorine's chest, bobbing softly in the still air of the laboratory like a paper boat set sail on a gentle stream. Mauragan's shoulders shake, tears streaking down their face, and they reach out.

The whole world warps around them, strands of violet and yellow cracking through the very fabric of reality. Mauragan cups the floating light in their hands as everything falls to pieces around them, and in a surge of light far brighter than the practice barrier at the center of the lab, Kas's vision spots out. For a moment, they feel and hear and see nothing. They're weightless, perfectly suspended in a featureless void.

And then they snap back to reality to find Mauragan gone. In their place, holding Sorine's body, is a creature that dwarfs the two Arch-Mages gaping up at it. It's taller than the practice barrier, its gray-furred body pulsing with violet light, and Mauragan's clothes hang off it, torn and ripped in some places, entirely new in others. Strands of violet spider-silk drape from its body, and its fur is covered by patches of little yellow butterflies. Its eyes remain closed for a long moment, an expression of utter serenity on its face.

When it opens them--left yellow, right purple--they are filled with a bright, cold rage.

"You horrible creatures," it hisses, voice somewhere between Sorine's harsh city accent and Mauragan's high-pitched, mewling squeak. Each sound it makes is heavy in a way no human or monster voice could possibly be, vibrating through the walls of the laboratory. Kas knows they aren't looking at their friends anymore. Though they recognize Mauragan's caution and care, Sorine's boldness and confidence, they know the creature before them isn't really either of them anymore. It isn't a human, and it isn't a monster.

It's a force of nature.

It draws itself up to its full height, towering over Ghiliss and Mirei. They both try to snag it with their magic, but they come up short every time, their attacks bouncing off like light against a mirror. "You--you--what have you done?" Mirei stammers, backing away as every single attack they throw at the creature fails.