Severed

Chapter 2

I have no home. Since I'm always on the run there's no need. See, making a deal with Magic is expressly forbidden- in all 7 realms- because of the cost to others. Gaining just an extra ounce of power from Magic has been known to cost a hearty price of human lives. Unless Magic wants something more specific, such as faerie blood or undead limbs.

Moving from other realms to faerie realm is impossible unless you're a faerie, which I no longer am. However, moving from the Georest, the human realm, to, Savage, the feral realm is easy. You just slip across the border and the welcoming party is already waiting. The Ferals can smell you and since their favorite food is human flesh, they come  running whenever we enter their realm. Ferals aren't particularly gifted with magic and are fairly simple to kill so the 3 that greeted us upon arrival were no sweat. A blast of magic here, a sword stroke there, and we made quick work of them. "Well that wasn't much fun" I said. "No, but it had to be done, the authorities aren't far behind" my counterpart answered. Grinning, I flicked the blood from my shamshir, an elegantly curved demon weapon, and said, "you always were the more sensible one Hallie". She answered back, "and Hallie, you always were more skilled with sword combat".

The feral realm, Savage, is disgusting, with half formed creatures and poisonous plants we try and steer clear as much as possible. That wasn't an option in this case since the human officials weren't far behind us so we entered anyway. We knew better than to go near the Feral towns and the Feral Capitol was definitely a no go. Instead, we stayed close to the human border which eventually met up with the faerie border where we would be safe. The ferals don't dare go near that area since faerie punishments are severe. We walked through an area that resembled a human forest and came to the faerie border. A pristine stone wall marked the change in realms and armed guards stood on lookout platforms every hundred or so feet. The ferals stayed away from the wall as did we because the faerie guards are instructed to kill anything close to the border. Their archers aim is deadly and if that wasn't enough, each arrow is coated with poison specially brewed to kill all of the races, even the undead.

We didn't spend long at the border to Atalia, only stopping long enough for me to remark on how beautiful the faeries were. With their delicately pointed ears, sharp features, and intricate clothing, they were by far the best race. Though in that aspect, I may have been biased seeing as how I used to be a faerie. We didn't have much time to waste so I brought myself back to the present and we trudged further into the wasteland of the ferals.

Shortly after we began our trek again we were greeted with a horrible screeching sound, like glass grating along metal. My counterpart vanished, as she did when we met new beings to ensure our secret was kept, and I crept closer, careful to avoid a neatly placed animal snare. I dodged a few more snares and found that the source of the wailing was a creature caught in one of the very traps I had been so diligently avoiding. It wailed again, but just as I was about to turn away and leave it to die, it said in a small voice, "help me. Please". The being in the trap was feral, no doubt about that, but it was a feral child. Feral children are rare, as are faerie children, but whereas faerie children as revered, feral ones are mostly killed for sport. They are cared for until age 7, then hunted down and killed. If one is lucky enough to survive past 7, it is expelled from its home and forced to live on its own. The child in front of me seemed about 9 years old which meant that she had lived through the Hunting and was on her own. The young ferals leg had become caught in the trap and she was wailing in pain; begging for help. I tried to leave since ferals, like animals, are more dangerous when they are scared, but Hallie whispered in my ear, "we can't leave her. Just set her free and then kill her if she tries to fight". I tilted my head while I contemplated it and answered, "ok. That's fine by me. Just let me kill her if she tries to fight". I felt, rather than saw, Hallie nod beside me and inched closer to the child. The girl hissed, but quieted when I drew my sword and slid it in between the jaws of the trap. Slowly, I pried open the trap and the girl ripped her leg out as soon as there was enough room. The trap snapped shut when I let go and the girl whispered, "thank you" before lunging at my face.

The child launched herself at me claws flying, but I hadn't spend months fighting for nothing and I easily dodged her attack. The reason I asked to kill the girl before- to try out some new magic I acquired at the last market we had been to. Since this is magic, a part of casting the spell is yelling out its name. It seems useless, but since most of the spells have cool names, I don't really mind. After completed a series of motions with my hands, I yelled, "Stellar Explosion!" My palms glowed brightly and I held them out, aimed at the girl. A black circle swirled into existence right above her as she lunged for me again. I just smirked and replied with, "nope. You're too late" a second before a million stars rained down on her unprotected body.

"Haha! It worked! That is my new favorite spell!" I laughed out, though my partner didn't seem to approve. "Way to overdo it Hallie" she said rolling her eyes at me. I glanced back at the child's form, expecting to see just a smoking body, but she wasn't dead. She was just lying on the ground gasping for air. She said, "ouch. That hurt". I stomped over to her and stood above her, "how come you aren't dead?" The girl just shrugged and opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. She suddenly grabbed her head and cried out. Her eyes seemed duller when she looked back at me and it was only a moment before she lunged again. This time the attack wasn't for me, but was directed toward my counterpart. How had this child seen Hallie? We could figure that out later, right now I had to focus on my other half. I flung out another spell, this time toward Hallie, calling breathlessly, "Earthen Embrace" and Hallie was encased in hard bark before the child reached her. Realizing she couldn't get through, the girl directed her attention back to me. One moment her eyes were hungry, ready to shed blood and the next were sad, pleading for help. What was this child? If she was capable of higher thought, there was no way she was a feral, though she certain looked and acted like one. The girl lurched foreword and came barreling at me again. As she did, the bark encasing Hallie peeled off; one spell ending so another could begin. One more should do the trick so I whispered, "Conscious Pull" into my fingers and waited until the girl got close enough. Then I easily dodged a swipe of her claws and gently connected two of my outstretched fingers with her forehead. The child collapsed as soon as contact was made.

Hallie agreed with me that the child lying before us wasn't an ordinary feral. Most ferals were barely human at all while this child seemed to be almost half human. Ferals came into existence when the human race de-evolved and went back to their more animalistic characteristics. The girl before us seemed to be one of the beings in between feral and human. The child leg was slowly leaking blood though the wound wasn't life threatening and her breathing was steady. Her brown hair was dirty, clothing even dirtier, and skin covered in scars. Hallie also surveyed the child, but stayed hidden in case the human officials caught up to us. It wasn't long before just that happened.

The human officials, police, I think they're called, burst through the trees about as elegantly as a stampede of ferals. It just so happened that a stampede of ferals was chasing them.

Hey, me again. What'd ya think of this chapter? Please leave a vote if you think this chapter deserved it and comment if you have something to say!