Sword of Flames [Book I] - {#Wattys2017}

Chapter 1 - The Beast Inside the Fire

Chapter 1 - The Beast Inside the Fire

The devil was approaching.

The beast chased a girl across a deserted field, the grass sticking on the bottom of her bare feet as she ran. Her breaths went from long and heavy to short and wheezy. The oxygen in the air seemed to be thinning by the minute. Nothing could rival the pain in the arms and legs that have been in motion for years.

However, an escape from this creature's mighty claws was indeed impossible. As the poor girl ran, it followed at the same pace. If not, even faster. Her limbs had grown weak, her vision uncoordinated, her heart strain. It was time to give up.

As if it smelt the smoke of the extinguished flame in her heart, a ring of fire confined her in a steaming hot jail. The inferno danced in the dry air but did not burn the ground, defying the laws of science. She knew it was near. There was no need to wait. And just as presumed, the beast came quickly.

The dead of the night did not allow her to see the face of her chaser. The fire refused to emit light on the beast, but only inside of the ring, another feat of the flames that challenged the laws of the Earth. The only visible thing was its pair of murky orange eyes that resembled a liquefied hell.

"Levana Ganim," a slow menacing voice spoke. She did not answer.

"My darling Levana Ganim," it continued, reaching a large arm through the fire without harm. Her cheek was stroked by it, the skin resembling the texture of peeling leather.

The words "do not touch me" want to come out of her mouth. However, no voice was released from her throat. She could only witness what would happen next.

"Come closer," the thing ordered in a calming tone. Levana's leg muscles were woken up by the command. She did as she was told.

"My dear child, you may think that I am a demon, a horror of the laws of the galaxy. One who must be terminated."

A long pause ensued, and Levana was not sure if his statement was a question. Again reading her heart, the beast continued. "Nod your head if you do not wish to speak."

Her head already tilted up to complete the nonverbal motion, but she stopped right there. The answer was not yes or no. In fact, she did not know why she was running from it. The only thing Levana knew was that his heart was black not with malice, not with hatred, but with twisted love. That was enough to fear.

"Oh, do you not know what I am?" At the realization that its statement was valid, a guffaw escaped its lips. "I am you, my child. We are the same. My eyes are yours, my power is yours, my heart is one we share."

Levana stared at the dark figure of her tormentor with widened eyes, shaking her head vigorously. It gently put its hands on either side of her head to stop the movement.

"Do not be scared, Levana. I am here to inform, not to intimidate." Its whole body entered the fiery realm. In complete fear, Levana stepped backwards, tripping over her own foot and falling to the ground. The beast walked closer and she crawled farther. Suddenly, a burning sensation tingled her right elbow, and she immediately moved her arm away in pain. She looked at the bruise, the skin blackened and peeling off. There was no more room to back away.

Regardless of its presence in the ring, the beast remained shadowed as if there was a shield around it, protecting its appearance from the naked eye.

"We see, smell, feel the same things. Our joy, sadness, and anger are alike." It then extended its hand to her stomach. Just with the power of his fingers, her skin was punctured as blood streamed from her intestines. She shrieked in pain, her voice finally coming back to her. Although hazy, her vision laid eyes on the ground below the beast, in which blood was dripping down from his torso as well.

"We feel the same pain."

Levana could not handle the torture anymore. "Stop! Don't kill me!" she plead. Its fingers stopped half an inch in.

"Kill you? My darling, why would I do such a heinous thing?" The beast's sadly sympathetic eyes haunted her soul. "I will not see to your demise." His pupils moved to the corner of his eyes as if he was looking at something afar in the vast skies. It diverted its attention from the unknown thing, and back to the girl, standing up quickly.

"But this does not mean that you will escape an inevitable death. The day you live will be the day you die, Levana Ganim."

And with that, he had disappeared.

Levana's vision was pitch black, but her screams were still evident. Realizing that her eyes were closed, she opened them to find herself in her bedroom facing the ceiling. The rigid but soft surface under her body felt like spikes on her back, and the murky orange eyes continued to stare at her. She tried to find something to touch to verify the presence of reality, but nothing was within the area she laid.

The sound of a door bursting open did the trick. By the time the menacing eyes drifted from her vision, strong arms that felt like her father's picked the ailing body up. Wails were heard far across the room. But before she could tell her family that she was okay, she had already blacked out.

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"Calm down ma'am. Please tell me exactly what happened."

"She was on the floor, and then she was screaming. She was screaming really loud. There was sweat all over her, and her eyes were wide open and her pupils drew to the back of her head."

"Alright, thank you ma'am. Does she have a history of mental illness?"

"There's something wrong but it hasn't been diagnosed. Some doctors believed it was schizophrenia, but she does not share many of the symptoms regardless of her hallucinations. She goes to a therapist three days a week because she says she has dreams where she's running from a devil." the woman took a deep breath. "It has happened without fail for ten years, and she wakes up screaming from it every day. She usually stops after a minute or so, but today was the worst I've ever seen her. I don't know what's wrong with her, no doctor does."

"Has she taken medication?"

"She began a few years after the dreams started." The woman paused as if she was trying to recall the moment in time. "Twelve years old, it was. But it hasn't worked."

There was a silence. Levana stared at the pale ceiling above her as her attention shifted to the sounds of beeps, walking, and wheels rolling on the floor from the conversation between her mother and a nurse. The hospital again, she concluded, not phased by the fact.

Her mother and the doctor she was talking to seemed to have walked away, hearing her mother's expensive heels click far from the room she was staying in. The fact she was in the hospital did not scare her, but the fact that she had interacted with the beast did.

For years and years every dream consisted of only running, fleeing from the terrible beast that she knew nothing of. But that day she felt his skin, she heard his voice, she smelt his musty odor. What did it mean? Was that the final installment? Were those dreams done for good?

Levana rubbed her eyes and used her arms to lift herself up. As she did so, there was a questionable sharp pain. She tracked the location of the pain down slowly as her brain still lagged from blacking out. Finally, she pinpointed the place. Her eyes widened in fear as she witnessed the bruise. There, on her right elbow, was a burn scar of the same shape as the one she got from the fire. Levana rushed to look under her pajama shirt, and found exactly what she expected; five scars in the same places as the beast's fingers were on her stomach.

"How?" she asked, her voice sunken. She began to sweat. It was more than a dream. Her mind lead her to the obvious conclusion that she never wanted to imagine.

The beast was real.

~~~

Hey everyone, and welcome to the first chapter of the series! I'm super excited to reveal what I have in store for these novels. Please, if you like it please vote, comment and add to your reading list! What do you guys think of the dream?