Luke Pane and his Anomaly Sister [ Fantasy ] (COMPLETED)

Chapter 4

Before getting on the path through the wheat field, Luke lowered his head and focused on the sounds around him. Steady, steady; he repeated. He flicked Alarich's reigns and continued on. Field shifters... devilish things they are. He knew something about them. In the book he read though, the ink was very light and mostly gone. He couldn't depict what it said about their behavior.

His eyes zipped around as the wind blew through the field; he was searching for abnormally moving stalks of wheat. Even Alarich was quiet and seemed to be listening very carefully. What a smart horse.

Nothing was out of place. It was all calm and normal, and stayed like this for quite a while. He placed his hand on his sword and spurred Alarich a little more. It was annoying having to remain under suspense for so long. Just what were the chances of running into a field shifter if nothing has happened by now?-Were they high, or were they slim?

He looked to the right again. A bird was swooping down to pick some wheat. He thought of what Esmé would do. She'd be running out there to try and catch the bird. It would fly away and she'd drop to the ground with a sigh and smile as the sun shined down on her. She was all about nature. Suddenly, the bird was swallowed up by a large snake. He jumped. "Whoa-!"

Alarich took off before he could do anything else. "WAIT! WAIT!" He managed to take the reins and glimpse back to where the snake was. It was there, moving fast through the field and coming right for him. His heart was about to pound out of his chest.

Frantically, he felt around for his sword and almost dropped it on yanking it out of its sheath. He swung it, slicing the creature in midair as it leapt at him, changing into a dog. Alarich jumped up on his hind legs, throwing him off. He rolled over onto his hands and knees and snatched the sword, panting heavily as the horse ran away. The shifter was just a few feet from him, twitching, bleeding from its side. It locked eyes with him. He snarled and shouted at it. The creature only winced and briefly shut its eyes. When it looked at him again, he saw it was too hurt to attack–the pain was too much. So much... pain. Was it pleading him to finish it off? His grip on the sword was tightening and loosening in hesitation. The shifter searched his narrowing eyes and found a face lingering within them; there was a memory within his eyes. The shifter used that image and changed form again—Into his sister. He watched her whimper and reach for him. "Luke, save me. I don't want to die." Her breaths were short and staggered. He crawled backward while she moved closer to him, leaving a trail of blood from the wound in her side. "Please," she grabbed his foot. The creature was tampering with his mind; this suffering he saw in her was making him forget she was a shifter. It was fooling him into believing she had actually come after him. There were no impossibilities of this being true.

"I'm losing control of my body... Please, Luke... please don't leave me to die." He could feel his heart sinking and his face warming, tears threatening to leave his eyes. She fell to the ground with her hand slipping off his foot. "Esmé, no!" he reached for her hand. She was motionless as he pulled her into his arms. "Come on! Don't go!" He listened for her breathing and checked her pulse. There was nothing. He rocked her back and forth, "You can't go! I refuse! You're all I have! What about mom and dad? We can't give up, remember?" He pushed his face into her hair. "How could you!" She felt so limp and fragile. He backed his face away from the side of her head and held her cheek. There was no personality there–this body was a shell; all the times they shared; the memory was not there anymore. All he could see was this young soul, a blessing to this world, was taken away from him by someone or something. He looked at the sword and saw her blood on it. That's his sword... Why would he do this? He stood up with his hands on his head, "No, I didn't do this... I would never do that! Never!" Absentmindedly, he paced around. But then he stopped, peering over his shoulder at her again. He thought for a good long minute. This made no sense! What the heck was he thinking! What was he doing!