365 Days (Part 1) | ✓

144. Mystical Creatures

144. Mystical Creatures: Angels or other mystical creatures - use them as inspiration.

Maia scooped up the water in her hands and splashed it over her arms. The fight had left her dirty; traces of grass and dirt sheeted her skin. She was so tired of it. Of all of the petty games and even more petty reasons to fight.

But school was school. Maia was glad she had the woods to stay in. She liked the peace and quiet. Nothing unpredictable would happen here. Nothing bad could happen here -- the woods simply did not allow it. They were too pure.

She had never encountered this little body of water before, but the forest was big. There were lots of spaces she did not know of, no matter how much she wandered.

Maia stared into the water, seeing instead the sparse grass by her face after the other girl had thrown her down... Maia scrubbed the dirt off a little more forcefully. When she focused on her surroundings again, she realized she was staring at a face.

The girl shrieked and threw herself back, her eyes locked with horrified fascination on the face, floating upwards just below the water. Ripples distorted her exact features, but the eyes were open.

Was it a body? Maia slowly ventured forward, the fear thumping in her breast. She now understood the morbid fascination with the dead...

Maia was on her hands and knees, examining the face below the water. She could see it topped a body standing upright, and that... the eyes were moving. The kneeling girl repressed the screa, bubbling up in her throat, for the eyes belonging to the underwater face flickered about and seemed to focus on... Maia?

Before Maia could react, the woman thrust her hand out of the water. In her hand was clenched a fist, which she angled with the tip pointed heavenward.

Maia was aware she was breathing, but it sounded very heavy.

"I have waited long," the woman underwater said. Her mouth moved, but Maia thought she heard her speak within her own mind than with her ears. "Take it," she urged. "Morgana awakes."

Maia hesitated, but the sword sung a song to her soul, and she took it. Excalibur.