The Seared Witch

Anali

The merchant held the green pearl into the yellow light with a toothy grin. "You were lookin' fer somethin' excitin'? 'Ere it is, lassey."

A night-blue cloaked woman lowered her hood to reveal dark brown skin and glowing orange strands intertwined in her curly black locks. Her full lips parted to reveal fangs and an orange tongue. "It's beautiful." She sighed in admiration. "How much?"

"Fer this jem? 600 at the least."

She reached inside her cloak and pulled out a pouch of coins. "This should suffice." Her voice was smooth and quiet. She placed it in his hands as he put the pearl back in the small cushioned box it came from.

She lightly grabbed the miniature chest with a smile. "Always a pleasure doing business with you boys. But I usually see another fellow..."

"Sorry bout that, ma'am, but your usual has been called. You know how it is."

"Yes." She murmured and tucked the box into her satchel. "Well, I wish you well."

"Come back soon," the slimy merchant called as she pushed her way out of the cabin. The desert smelled of the sugar in the ocean, that lapped at the white sand. Her boots sunk into the dirt as she climbed down the porch steps. Placing her hood back on, she followed the black shore line to the pink coral forest. Pink, green, and purple coral trees curved into an archway, signifying the entrance. She briskly made her way through, hidden from the starlight. Branches overhead of her blocked out the sky, so that the further she walked, the darker it became.

She paused for a moment to fetch a glass jar from her satchel. She held it up and blew steaming breath onto it. The white pebbles inside lit up in red and buzzed around like flies. This she used as a guiding light, and continued through the twisting path.

The constant slopes and uphills made her breath more of a pant. Steam curled out of her orange-hot mouth. "Hate this...so...much..." she wheezed. She stumbled toward a pink boulder and slumped down next to it to catch her breath.

She dug out a jug of liquid fire and gulped some of it down. She smiled at the warmth and placed it back. Sighing, she pulled out her map and examined it under her glowing jar's light. "Should be back in a few hours..."

She packed everything up before she dug out her boxed pearl. As she opened it, a thick, cold fog rolled in. She watched the coral trees freeze when it was touched. She hid her mini chest and stood protectively. "Who goes there?"

The fog clawed its way past her feet, but it only caused her to shiver. Other than that, it didn't harm her. She squinted to see the outline of a figure. "Speak!" She demanded.

The black shape's wings extended out of its back. A low whisper wisped past her ears, carried by the fog, "Alani..."

Her eyes widened in fear. It spoke her name. It knew who she was. She bolted from the boulder and raced through the frozen path, her heart racing wildly.

As the coral trees blurred past her, she could just make out the shape of the winged figure maneuvering through the underbrush at an exceptional speed. She inhaled sharply and picked up her pace. She leaped over a fallen tree and dove under low branches.

Something WHIZZED over her head. She grunted as an ice arrow skimmed past her. She dodged another two and kept low to the ground as she sprinted.

Suddenly, she was confronted with a dead end. She cursed under her breath and skidded to a stop.

"Alani..."

She turned with a glare at the dark figure, who had stopped a few feet away from her.

Whoever it was wore all white except for the black, horned mask. Snowy wings made out of silver unfurled from its back and fluttered in excitement. It tilted its head and held a crossbow at its side.

"You. You were sent to kill me." Alani growled. Her eyes trailed down to the pendant it wore around its neck. She scoffed. "You're the Prince of the Fifth Realm. Quilo, isn't it?"

He took a step forward. "We've been at war a long time...I'm simply putting an end to it..." he used the fog to speak. His kind were mute, and the fog was a necessity for them to communicate. "You understand...don't you...?"

"I understand that I'm not going to be the one to die tonight." She bared her fangs and her orange eyes glowed in hatred. She tossed her satchel aside as steam began to roll off her. Her black hair lit up in flames as she beckoned him. "What are you waiting for?"

More fog surrounded them, creating a snowy biome. Quilo's wings stretched and as he spun, metal feathers shot out at Alani.

She created an X with her forearms and grit her teeth as the feather sliced her skin, spilling fire-orange blood into the snow. She charged at him, but he leaped over her and side-kicked her into a tree.

Her stomach slammed into a frozen corral trunk so hard, that the tree shattered into ice shards. She jumped back to her feet and dove under a corral bush as another rain of feather-daggers was sent her way.

Her muscles tensed as she waited for the endless rain of daggers to stop, and—suddenly—it did. She panted and slowly peered around the corral bush. Quilo wasn't in the clearing she saw him in last.

Suddenly, he leaped down from above and tackled her. She yelled aloud and slammed a hard fist into the side of his face. His mask cracked from the impact, revealing gray skin beneath.

She grinned in triumph and head butted him with a sickening CRACK. He flew off her and into another tree, shattering it. He stayed in the snow, motionless.

She stood slowly and cautiously made her way to him. He was leaking black blood into the snow around him. She sighed and kneeled down. "You may be faster and more clever than us, but we're stronger."

As she raised a hand above his head, his wings suddenly lifted and let out a storm of knives. She screamed and fell backwards as he leaped on top of her. He pinned her down with two ice-cold daggers in each shoulder.

"You said it...clever..." the fog whispered in her ear.

She shouted curses at him from the top of her lungs as he rose an ice arrow from his crossbow above her chest.

Her hand shot up and grabbed him around his throat. She squeezed down as hard as she could and watched in satisfaction as he choked and struggled.

Suddenly, he slammed the arrow down into her heart.

She gasped as ice filled her hot insides. She used the last of her strength to crunch down on his neck. He squirmed under her grasp until he went limp.

As her vision went cold, she dropped him beside her. The last thing she remembered was clutching the green pearl, then everything went black.