Forbidden magic

chapter seventeen

Today you are you.
That is truer that true.
There is no one alive who is youer than you.

-Dr Suess-

_________________________________

Raven couldn't move. The soles of her feet were firmly glued to the ground and every muscle in her being froze. The wheels in her brain stopped turning as she stared into the arcane orbs that was each thrice the size of her head. Her mouth ran dry as words failed to emerge, all she could do was simply stare.

The bile rose in her throat as a bilious feeling churned in her stomach. The creature moved closer, slightly emerging out of the trees. The darkness that had covered its features melted away as the remains of the descending moon shone upon it.

The light divulged an enormous snout with glistening scales protruded forward, a pair of steaming nostrils were engraved on either side. Its hide made entirely of undoubtedly robust red scales and the tips of its atrocious fangs jutted out on display.

Raven felt apoplectic, her mind yelled at her to run but her joints failed to obey. The loud pounding in her chest chimed coarsely in her ears, but still the befogged girl found that the most difficult task at the moment was to shift her feet.

She knew what stood before her, she had read stories, seen pictures and even watched movies about this creature. But none of that could match the apogee of terror that this one reeked off. Unlike in the movies, this dragon wanted her dead.

"Come," it commanded. Clouds of white smoke puffed out of its mouth as it spoke, its steep and alluring whisper called out to her. The dragon's astute voice produced an invisible force that pulled Raven towards it. Like a pig led to slaughter, she stepped forward.

"Closer," it hissed, the dragon's deleterious tone ebbed into her head.

A forked tongue peeked out of its bone crushing teeth. Raven involuntarily shifted as per its wish, her muscles operated well without her conscious control. She was now just a couple of feet away from the reptilian giant, deep in trance.

"Closer," it breathed beguilingly. A blast of burning air smacked Raven causing the sweat to leak out of her pores and tears to crawl out of her eyes before she took another demised step.

A ballistic roar gushed out of its vial lips as an arrow buried itself deep into its black iris, it sank into its eye as the assailed poison began to spread. The attack allayed Raven as she found the strength to stagger backwards as the dragon lashed out in agony.

Its jaws parted as a spark of red flickered in its mouth just a second after a man appeared in front of Raven. Turning to her, he concealed her body with his black cloak that felt unusually heavy and thick. The man crouched as he engulfed Raven in his hold and pressed her against his chest.

On perfect timing, a harsh horde of blue fire poured out of the beast's lips.

The flames from the dragon's mouth shot out mercilessly at them as it enshrouded their beings. But somehow the belligerent fire did not abrade a single inch of the fabric that covered Raven and the man.

The shooting combustion resumed for an entire minute, bereft of clemency and conviviality but still could not penetrate the braw cloak. The strong arms that held Raven so firmly loosened around her as the man got up.

"Move!" he erratically ordered.

The addled girl looked up and squinted at the familiar face that glared down at her. His radiating beauty still remained intact, the strands of his hair seemed undisturbed by the approaching chaos and the flecks of arduous skill sparkled in his irises like the glittering stars above.

"You," she burbled. Things elapsed in a blur for Raven, ever since she had egressed the human world nothing made sense.

"I said MOVE!" Gen barked. He looped a hand around her forearm and heaved Raven to her feet. Raven found that she had the strength to move willingly again. Her survival instincts kicked into her as she scrambled to her feet and began running.

The contiguous trees around her were cackling audibly as the blue fire consumed them, the ground itself sizzled at the blaring touch of the flames.

The cessation of the dragon's cries made her whip her head back. Thoughts of Gen being devoured by the monster appeared in her mind. A queer feeling sank into her when she glanced over her shoulder to find nothing but alight trees.

Raven blinked, dazed and confused she urged her legs to keep going. The forest was playing tricks on her mind, there was no way she could have hallucinated about things like that. Or was there?

Her eyes confuted her thoughts as she trailed them back, in front of her the golden locks of the pointy eared Gen flapped furiously as he zoomed past the trees. His fist clenched around the quiver while his cloak wavered in sync with the sharp winds.

Hope coagulated within Raven. She knew that Gen was her only chance of survival now, her feet began to weaken slightly and her pace started to decrease.

Gen detected the fading throbbing of her feet against the dirt. He paused reluctantly as he deflected options of abandoning her and spun around. He hoped that he would live to regret this. However he could not fight off the urge to ponder on the beast's sudden appearance in the dark woods.

Dragons never flew past the northern borders. Never. His mind told him that it was a mere coincidence but his soul knew that it had something to do with the redhead girl.

She was panting heavily, her clammy hands rested on the top of her thighs, the muscles in her legs barely kept her standing as they slightly wobbled.

Gen was conscious of the fact that she wouldn't be able to keep up, he had wanted to lead her out of the forest. But there was still obvious remains of human traits in her.

That was what disabled her.

"Follow the stream to your right, it will lead you to the river. I will meet you there, if I fail to make it I want you to run alongside with the current. It will lead you to your escape," he said concisely, his eyes leery traveling towards the sky.

Raven nodded wordlessly as she turned to her right only to find that it was destitute of any such stream, dread sank into her as she opened her mouth to ask, "what stream?" But Gen had disappeared from her vision.

Raven was still scouring for signs of flowing water when a huge shadow blanketed her surroundings. She looked up and caught sight of the enormous dragon that governed the sky, its seeking eyes lingered on the trees. An emasculated look gleamed in its eyes as it found what it sought.

Her.