The Anima [completed]

28.

28.

I would never grow tired of the inertia that stirs and twists in your stomach while flying. On the contrary, I had quite my fill of the sickening rush of stomach acid that came with plummeting at high speeds straight to the ground.  Beast's wings were tucked tightly under his body as we made the drop to the clearing. As I clung to Beasts neck, Lucy did to mine, nestled safely between our two bodies. If the wind were hot, it would have flat ironed my hair straight as it whipped out behind me. But it was cold and biting instead, tearing at my clothes as if they were as thin as paper. Just about the time I wanted to scream from the cold, Beasts wings snapped out and we began to glide.

Lucy's head popped out from under me as I sat up on the Gryphons back, watery eyes blinking.

"It's okay. You can sit up now if you want. The clearings just over there." I pointed to the thinning trees and the young girl sat up immediately.

Gently, Beast glided down and landed with a jolt on the ground. The trees loomed tall over us, their leaves still in the absence of the wind. It was still bright, but I couldn't see the sun or where the light was coming from, I knew it would be dark before we knew it.

"Come on." I held my arms out for Lucy.

Reluctantly, she slid off Beasts back and I helped her to the ground. The Periwinkle appeared out of her jacket as Beast trotted off to the tree line. She buzzed out of the fluff and flew around Lucy's hair.

"She wants to go." Lucy chimed.

"We will be leaving as soon as they—"

Alvar and Lucius dropped from the sky, landing with only a soft thump with their glamour. Lucius' dusted off his cape and Alvar withdrew a dagger from his waist. With a nod of Alvar's head, we were ready to go.

"Lead the way."

I coughed back a laugh as the tiny Periwinkle and the little girl pranced ahead of us, the youngest taking the lead.

It took us an hour to weave our way through the ruins of the city, the smoke forcing us to stop every so often so we wouldn't cough up a storm. Alvar and Lucius seemed to be unbothered by the destruction within the city, a sight of war they had seen perhaps one too many times. But with no past conflicts up my sleave, each crumpled building brought a wave of guilt and a pricking in the back of my eyes. Somehow, it felt as if it were my fault; that ignorance was no more of an excuse than offensive defence.

Briefly, shadows would pass at the edge of my vision, but none stayed long enough to be identified. The black masses reminded me of Hollywood depictions of wraiths and poltergeists; hovering featureless things occasionally moaning in agony, refusing to speak any words.

Beast had never before been as on edge as he was moved through the ruins. Walking along side the little girl, his shoulders were tensed and his head drooped like a lion stalking its prey. Paws making no sound on the rocky pavements and wings tucked tightly against his body, I doubted any living creature would anticipate his silent attack.

I kept catching myself in anticipation for another kind of attack; one from soldiers of the crown, but I soon realised that the people we had seen from above were either gone or in hiding. Although it eased the worry of an attack from my mind, it made me even wearier of entering the palace where all the city people may have been waiting.

Just as my thoughts were finally ordering, an unburnt structure rose from crumbled remains of the city; the spine of the empire, the last thing holding it all together. Contrasted against the bleakness of the fallen city, the skyscraper was mighty and magnificent. The thin body of the building spiralled upwards like trails of smoke from a coffee, the curvature defying the laws of physics. The exterior seemed to be made entirely of different shades of glass, combining together to reflect the same shade of darkness I had seen on the Kelpie and the Wraiths. Like the palace of the First Plane, the top disappeared into the sky, clouds hiding its true size from the naked eye.