Magic Spawn Origins

Magic Spawn: Chapter 48

by Meredith Skye

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Seeing Kyran like this had really crushed Rian. His brother's eyes were so vacant and empty—devoid of all that was Kyran. It was as if the boy didn't even recognize Rian. In fact, Kyran didn't seem to remember his own name.

What had that wizard done to him? What kind of spell erases a person? If Kyran was, in fact, a person ....

"Come on!" said Rian. He grabbed Ehina's hand and practically dragged her through the doorway, not too hard, considered how worn out she appeared.

Rian's brother, Kyran, had only repeated one thing that Rian had said, speaking of their mother: What did Molan do with her? Then he had stopped listening to them.

The flames blocked their way. Rian could feel the heat of the ring of fire. Perhaps they could jump past it without too much damage. With Kyran distracted, the flames had dropped lower, maybe down to three feet high. But Ehina resisted Rian's tugs.

Ehina waved her sword in the direction of the Old Mill. "Rian, he has to die! You have no choice!" But Rian wouldn't let go of her. He had just rescued her and wasn't going to let her risk getting recaptured.

Kyran stood mesmerized, and hadn't so much as stirred. It was as though someone had switched him off.

"We have to run for it! This is our chance. Come on!" he refused to let go. "And you look exhausted! Do you want to get captured again?"

She growled, but give in and followed him, finally. "All right," she muttered.

They each took a deep breath and made a leap across the flames, which singed them a bit as they passed. The pain was brief though intense.

Once clear of the ring of fire, they ran until clear of the Old Mill. The fog and darkness swallowed them as they hurried down the road towards town.

They caught up with Aldena who had witnessed the whole encounter. "So, he is fully Molan's," she said darkly.

"Perhaps," admitted Rian.

"And you should have let her kill him," she said quietly and turned. They ran as fast as they could down the lane leading back to town. He couldn't see Bernard and the townspeople. That was a good sign. That meant they must have gotten away. Or, so he hoped.

They tried to make their way through the dark gravel road without turning on the flashlight, afraid that Molan's creatures would be lurking about. They left the road and cut across the hill where the city well and water tower stood. Here, they stopped to catch their breath.

"Zane, this is Rian. We're out." He spoke into the walkie-talkie then waited for a response. "Have you heard from Grandma?"

"We've been a little busy," said Zane. "Getting our asses kicked out here! Molan cast some spells. We just can't hold out any longer. We're heading back to Grandma's."

"Good. Hurry. They were under attack 10 minutes ago. I haven't been able to get through to her. We're heading to town now."

"I copy that. We're on our way."

Rian and Ehina hadn't spoken much on the road. He could tell that she was still angry with him.

"You have to give up on Kyran," she began again.

"What? And kill him. I can't do that. I think I was getting through to him."

"You're still mad at me for killing your friend, aren't you?" demanded Ehina?

Rian turned and faced her. "Actually ... looks like you didn't. Or, not permanently. Now he's a ... Battle Wight, or that's what my aunt says."

"A Battle Wight?" asked Ehina, taken aback. "Oh yes, I should have seen it." She gave him an odd glance. "How would your aunt know that?"

"Really, that's what you're worried about? I'm worried about my brother, Kyran."

Angry, she stopped. "Let me explain to you how this works. The magic-spawn are like a blank sheet of paper. You wrote on that paper for awhile. But now the wizard has taken possession of him; he's erased all that you'd written and filled Kyran with his own thoughts, memories, and feelings. The magic-spawn becomes the person he is channeling--and that person is Molan. Essentially, your brother is Molan now."

Rian looked at his aunt, Aldena, who listened quietly to their conversation. "Aldena?"

"I don't know. She may be right. Before Molan came, Kyran appeared mostly human, but now ... I really can't say."

"No, there must be something of Kye left in there," said Rian.

"I doubt that." said Ehina. "And while Kyran lives, the necromancer's powers will continue to grow at a terrible pace. You won't be able to put this off indefinitely. You said it yourself--he didn't even know his own name."

"He let us go," said Rian.

Aldena shrugged. "Or his mind was elsewhere."

"Rian, your brother is no longer a whole being ... if he ever was," said Ehina. "Plus, his memories are now the memories of Molan. So whatever the boy knew, Molan now knows."

"He probably even remembers killing your father," murmured Aldena.

That hurt. Rian felt nothing but rage at the creature that could do such a thing to Rian's father.

"And if Molan did harm your mother, then Kyran would have that memory also. He would accept it as something that he did. And perhaps he even helped," said Ehina, chiming in.

"I've heard enough!" Rian said, running ahead. They needed to get back to town, and he was angry. "We should get moving."

The others followed, keeping up.

Anyway, he didn't want to hear any more. Kyran had always been a difficult child, and his mother, Lauretta, had struggled with this. Rian knew the tears she had shed over the boy as he'd grown up, all her frustrations. Even to his mother, Kyran was a mystery. It infuriated Rian to think that Kyran could help participate in killing her.

Unthinkable.

But he also thought back to what Aldena had said—that Lauretta had feared Kyran, and considered killing him as a baby. Could Kyran sense this? Would he take revenge on her for it? Rian shook his head. He couldn't accept that. Kyran just wouldn't do such a thing.

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Thanks for reading!

Come listen to my radio interview from October 2015!

THE SPECULATIVE FICTION CANTINA:

LINK: 

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/writestream/2015/10/30/the-speculative-fiction-cantina-with-meredith-skye-and-t-eric-bakutis