The Sisters of Flame and Frost.

Chapter 4 (Victoria + Sarah)

Art by Allagar on Deviant Art

Victoria couldn't sleep. It was that simple. She had decided not to sleep at the dorms, but to instead sleep at home. Blackmond was a small enough town that you could do that. She couldn't sleep because of two things. One, her thumbs hurt from her nervous habit of picking at the skin with her index finger. Two, she felt something. She couldn't describe it. Maybe like something was coming. Like something was there, but just out of reach. 

Victoria huffed quietly and got out of bed. She was going for a walk.

Sarah couldn't sleep. The bed in the dingy cabin was super uncomfortable, and for once she wasn't tired. She felt like her nerves were on fire. Like she was about to run from something, or towards it. Her mother's soft breaths floated from across the room. 

"Sorry, Mum," she whispered

Sarah got up out of bed and put on a sweater. The door fortunately was silent as she slowly opened it and sneaked out of the house. The dry, dead leaves crunched beneath her feet as she walked a little ways from the house and then turned to continue in a straight line. Her breath fogged up in front of her as she absentmindedly kicked at the leaves. 

The forest was quiet. Deadly silent except for Sarah. The hairs on the back of her neck rose and she stopped. For a while, there was nothing to be heard but her breathing and her heart, speeding up and bashing into her ribs. Her eyes flicked back and forth between the shadowy trees.

Click. Click. Click.

 Sarah whirled towards the source of the sound, her instincts screaming for her to run. The sound was like the mandibles of a large insect. The shadows obscured the source of the noise. She took a step backward, and it lunged.

Victoria kicked the small rock forward. She was ambling along Blackmond's magical concealment border. It didn't look like a border, it looked like there was nothing there at all. But it was solid if you touched it, and there was an enchantment on it that directed normal humans away. 

She watched as the rock bounced forward before she caught up to it and kicked again. The weird feeling still hadn't gone away, even in the fresh air. She didn't dare use her magic, or her father would sense it and come looking. Her father was on the Elemental Mage Council, only one council below the World Mage Council. He had special privileges which included sensing magic. His most important ability was to sense if the border broke and the Shadow Demons got in.

One day, she wanted to be like her dad. He was one of the most powerful Electromancers on the planet. That meant he was a Lightning Mage.

Suddenly, a jolt burst up Victoria's spine. Someone was in danger. She whirled to the border. They were through there. The person's fear was palpable. Victoria had to break the border no matter the cost.

Fire poured from her hands and struck the barrier. It lit up yellow with the strain of holding the flames. Victoria yelled out, pushing harder and harder, the fear of the person behind the border fueling her. 

With one last groan, the border gave out and shattered, leaving a large hole.  Past the barrier, was the person she was looking for. 

The girl looked about Victoria's age, sixteen, and was lying flat on her back crying out into the night as she shoved away a Shadow Demon. 

It was a middle-class demon. It looked like a mutated beetle with its bulging red eyes and sharp mandibles. Its rock-hard exoskeleton was dark gray and banded like armor. Two thin antennae burst from its head. Its hands were sharp claws, designed to rake through skin. Victoria was surprised the girl was still alive.

"Get away from her!" Victoria hollered as she sped towards them.

The demon had just enough time to change its focus before it disintegrated beneath a mountain of flames.

Both girls stood there panting in silence.

Sarah stared up at the girl in front of her in disbelief. Did she just shoot flames from her hands!? The girl turned her hazel eyes toward Sarah.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Sarah squeaked quietly.

That was a lie. No. She was not okay! Sarah had just been attacked by a mutant bug and saved by some...some... fire girl. Like the one she had drawn countless times. The one that filled her sketchbook with flames. It couldn't be.

The fire girl knelt to Sarah and held out a hand.

"What's your name?"

"Sarah."

"Nice to meet you, Sarah. I'm Victoria."

Victoria's hair was tipped in red and orange. Interesting.

"What was that thing?" Sarah managed to ask.

"Shadow Demon," Victoria replied, "nasty little bugger. Surprised it went after you though..."

Before Sarah could ask more questions, a man appeared nowhere making her jump. Victoria whipped around. The man had dirty blonde hair with yellow and white streaked tips (did everyone dye their hair nowadays?) and amber eyes that sparked with anger. He had a short-cut beard and was quite tall and imposing.

"Uh, oh," Sarah heard Victoria whisper.

"Victoria," the man said.

"Yes, Dad?" Victoria said with a grimace. This was her father?

"Why is there a hole in the border and a human standing with you?" He asked.

"Wait, human?" Sarah said but was ignored.

"There was a Shadow Demon Dad!" Victoria cried, "It attacked this poor person! I was helping!"

"She was helping." Sarah agreed.

Victoria's father sighed.

"Out of any person you could have come across it just had to be..."

"Marcus?"

Sarah's mom appeared through the trees.

"Valorie?" Marcus faltered.

"Woah there," Sarah said, "Slow your roll there buddy. No one calls my mom by her full name unless she says you can."

"It's fine Sarah," her mom dismissed.

Sarah was shocked. What was going on?

Marcus's eyes clouded over.

"I was not informed you were near."

"You would have been if you had picked up my calls!"

"What is going on?" Victoria whispered. Sarah shrugged.

Unexpectedly, Victoria's father, who is supposedly Marcus, said, "Why don't we discuss this inside the city border."