No More Choices (Void and Light Book One)

Chapter Seven

~Akiriya~

She threw me against the oak bed frame of my bed, the force cracking it in half. The wind had been knocked out of me and I was seeing spots. We'd been at this for at least fifteen minutes and I wasn't going to last much longer. The glowing magic circles in her palms grew in size and flames the color of sunset lit up shining throughout the still darkened room. I was trying to figure out how to get a leg upon her. "You know," she crooned "I prefer my humans raw but I'll make an exception or you." She hurled a column of bright flames at me. I duck and roll out of her line of fire and feel the like of flames on my flesh. My dodge only bought me a second as my head collided with the edge of my nightstand causing a shower of white spots to pass behind my closed eyelids.

I could feel the trickle of blood that ran down my scalp and onto my neck. My head was throbbing and there was no way that I was going to survive this encounter; she had the upper hand. I looked around for anything but I was no match for whatever power she was wielding. I hung my head. I'm done for, I thought to myself. I looked up at the window watching the moon in what would surely be my final moments. The heat behind my eyes increased when I saw it. I didn't know why but I'd always felt connected to the moon so it felt right to look at it before I faced my death. A tear slid down my check and into the now blood stained skin on my hand. I closed my eyes on the world and as I felt her hot breath over my face I let more of my tears fell.

"You gave me a fight but remember, you can't beat but an immortal." She growled.

I flinched when I felt her teeth in my neck. Sharp like fangs. Her tooth broke skin and I winced as heat flares from the wound. Blood trickled down my neck and her wet tongue lapped it up. She hummer kn pleasure and then gasped, pulling her head from my skin. "You... how can this be?" She'd gone from terrifying to terrified. All the fear that had filled me suddenly felt like nothing and when I finally looked back an her she had turned back into the little girl that she was before sitting down on my bed starring at me intently.

I touched my neck and felt for the wound that she made. My finger made contact with the tender flesh causing me to wince in pain wishing it would go away.

Bright golden light blinded me and the girl both of us shielding our eyes. I looked at my hand where the light emitted from and saw a golden magic circle hovering above my hand. There was a sun shaped symbol surrounded by stars and a small moon in the corner. I used my other hand to touch the space on my neck that had been bleeding only to feel raised flesh where the wound once was. I crawled over to where shards of my mirror lay next to the frame finding a large piece and angling it so that I could see my neck.

Right over the space where I bled and right next to my pulse a sun and moon tattoo created with what looked liked white and gold paint of ink lined with my skin.

"What the..." I looked over at the little girl who still sat on my bed looking at me. "What did you do to me?" I seethed.

She looked at me quizzically and blinked. "I did not do a thing to you your majesty." I stared at her absolutely bewildered.  How could ah edit there after attacking me and then call my your majesty?

"Who are you? Or a better question what the hell?" I was shaking and the glowing circle in my hand glowed brighter. "I don't know how I feel about you being here and my having to blindly trust you when I'm not sure what's going on but you're my only option."

She chuckled and then made her way over to me, sitting beside me and looking at the magic in my hand. She lifted her face and looked me in the eye as if searching for something. She scrambled away from me in a quick crab walk and shook her head, holding it like it hurt.

"You don't know who you are do you?" She asked. She looked almost sad for me. She stuck her hand out. "My name is Emory." I starred at her out stretched hand and then looked back at her. "I don't bite, twice."

I took her hand, "Akiriya." Our shake was brief and to the point, we were at a truce. "What is this?" I was referring to my hand and the circle hovering above it. The light has dimmed a bit but it still stung my eyes. She, Emory, took hold of my wrist and examined the circle.

"It's a casting circle, or magic circle, that our kind use to cast and wield magic." I blinked in confusion. In any other situation I would have laughed but I'd seen her turn into a big sharp winged, leg less monster and hurl fire at me, so I was sort of inclined to listen. "Would you like it to go so that you can have use of that hand once more?"

"Absolutely, please. Will it hurt?"

She stops to consider my question, "It doesn't usually but you are clearly untrained so it is unknown." She opened her right hand so that it was facing the ceiling and a red casting circle appeared. She brought her hand over my own so that the circles were parallel and she began mumbling in a language that sounded familiar but I was sure I didn't know. When she pulled away both of our hands were clear of circles and I let out a breathy sigh of relief.

I was relieved until Emory took in a sharp breath and looked at me in awe.

"What? What happened?"

"You have marked me with your power. I am, now and forever, loyal to you." She turned her wrist towards me and on it was a whit sun outlined in gold. "Truly this is beautiful."

"Marked you? Forever? But you're just a kid!" I stood and began pacing around the destroyed room. She laughed and this time it was airy and sweet and full of amusement.

"I am no child. It is merely a disguise, an illusion." She wiggles her fingers at me and a small casting circle appeared on her fingers. She touched the top of her head and in a puff of smoke she hanged from a small child and became a teenage girl maybe a year older than me. She had long black hair and very defined curves. Her skin was flawless like porcelain and her heart shaped face contained blue eyes ringed with gold.

"Yeah, I don't want to know about that."

She shrugged and looked around scrunching her nose at my room. "Let me clean this." She snapped and everything was orderly again. She sat down on my bed and looked at me. "Down to business, do you have any protectors?"

I was about to answer when my bedroom door burst into flames.