The Golden Basilisk

1

Aurelia watched as the rain pattered on the window of her office and let out a sigh. She would have to call a rideshare now that her plan for walking home had been dismantled. The rain normally didn't bother her. Had this been any other day, she would have welcomed it and looked forward to the walk to her apartment.

The rain seemed to wash away all of her worry, stress, and doubt. She felt as if the rain could wash away her past and bring forth a better future, one without worry and sadness.

Today, though-oh, today-she had to accompany her boss, Jerry, and some other higher-ups at the company to a dinner with some very prestigious guests who were looking at the potential of collaboration. Her attendance had been explicitly requested at the high-class restaurant uptown.

She thought of the outfit her sister, Bryn, had helped her pick out last week and shivered. The beautiful dress did not belong on someone like her. Besides the dress, she had not prepared for the meeting. She wasn't sure exactly what to prepare for.

She was mid-level within the business. The uppers treated her with more respect than the newbies and lower levels, but she could be on the down low and not have to deal with the grandeur of the higher-up levels. Until now, and for what, she wasn't sure she was prepared to find out.

Knowing her upper, he just wanted to bring a pretty face to the party to get the partners to let their guard down a bit. The only issue with this was that she knew she wasn't the most attractive in the office. She rated herself similarly to her status within the job: mid-level and average.

She broke out of her thoughts to look at the clock on the wall next to her office door. Ten minutes until she could leave. The realization of the time made her pull out her cell phone and put in a request for a rideshare before turning her attention back to work.

Her job within the magazine company was similar to that of an editor, which was her attentive position when she first started. Her degree in English wasn't much use for the fact-checker position they opened last year, but she accepted the promotion at the drop of a hat.

At first, she hated the job. Slowly it grew on her as she navigated the new world that was presented to humanity five years ago through websites and articles to find out what was true and what was bullshit the writing team was just throwing together.

When the Otherworld first merged with the humans, mass chaos ensued. A war was started between the creatures and humans. After a year of enormous amounts of bloodshed throughout the world, primarily humans, a peace treaty was created.

Now, Aurelia worked for a magazine called Enchanted Realms that looked into the creatures from the Otherworld. Most days, she spent her time fact-checking dragons, werewolves, and vampires. She felt as if she knew all there was to know about them.

She now enjoyed looking into these creatures, and though they scared her, they also intrigued her. Their inhuman abilities were deadlier than anything manmade, but they offered a better life to the humans. She wanted to know everything there was to know about each and every one. The dragons, werewolves, and vampires were closely knit to what we had thought of them before they had come to our world. So close, that it made her question if they had been here this whole time, saving themselves from the attack, learning all of the humans' tricks and ways.

Today, though, she found herself researching the newest of the creatures who had peeked their heads through the one-sided door from the Otherworld. The basilisks 'snakelike features seemed to call to her. Her love of snakes and amphibians allowed her to see the beauty in all three forms of the basilisk: human, serpent, and hybrid.

The chime of the clock on the wall caused her to startle. She peeked at her phone and saw the notification that her rideshare had arrived. Leaving the building, she walked to the driver of the car detailed in the rideshare app. He smiled at her and extended his arm. She scanned his hand with her phone as he did the same to her.