When the Sky Catches Fire

Chapter 3

Before stepping into Hüter Forest, whenever Callie ran full speed her chest tightened, her throat burned, and she was left gasping for air. After going into the forest, she ran with ease at maximum velocity; she accelerated with no pain or tightening in her chest, her lungs filled with without being scorched, and breathing was easy, almost as if she were strolling through the village. The voice was right; she was changing.

Reaching the village, Callie halted, listening to the  tumultuous sounds mixed with growls, howls, and barking rumbling across the field, blending with the thunder singing in the burning sky. She faltered, perplexed about what to do next. Before her stood her sleeping village, behind her a beast fought her battle. She'd left him alone so she could be safe. If he lost, would she be safe? Would the sleeping villagers? What about her hiding family?

"Callie!"

"Wilder?" She searched the darkness for her best friend.

"Callie! Over here!" He called from the storage shed's window.

"Callie," her father stood beside Wilder, waving her over.

"Don't call the child of the witch! She will only bring chaos and turmoil with her," Callie heard her mother warn.

Callie couldn't move. Her feet weighed her down, prohibiting her from taking a step. The sounds of flesh and teeth colliding, clashing, smashing, and tearing into each other gave her cause for concern.

"Callie! Hurry!" Wilder urged, waving frantically for her to come to their shelter for protection.

"I cannot," she whispered. Just then a terrible roar filled the air, sending shivers down her spine.

She spun around, watching the battle unfold before her. The beast, surrounded by the four creatures, swatted his tail in at them, flipping one into the air.

"We have it now. Don't let it escape!" The creature howled, rallying his comrades in battle. "Attack!"

Callie faced the shed and looked longingly at Wilder and her father.

"No!" Father wailed, reaching through the window for her.

"Get to the other side of the village; you will be safer there," she instructed. She couldn't do what was needed if they were in harm's way.

"I can't leave you to fight alone. I will join you," Wilder announced.

"Stay! I need you to take care of my family, especially if something happens to me. Go! Go now!" She ordered. Without waiting for them to move, she returned to the field. Her family's pitter-patter echoing in the distance.

"Return to the village! Run!" The beast warned as the largest creature jumped his back, knawing at his throat.

Callie soared through the air, wrapping her arms around the creature's neck as she flipped him to the ground with an ear-piercing crack. The creature laid lifeless on top of her, forcing her to rock the animal off of her. He landed with a thump beside her, his tongue dangling to the side of his powerful jaw.

A secondary crack, announcing the removal of another impurity by the plum creature, filled the air around them. Hearing the loud death notice, the last two creatures fled in different directions: one towards the forest and the second towards the village.

"I will take this one. You take the other."

"Done." Callie sprinted after the creature rushing for the safety of the forest. She couldn't let him enter into the veil of darkness that would help him merge into his camouflage installing surroundings.

The beast roared a gritty triumphant outcry. The lifeless body of the pursued creature laid at his feet.

Callie caught up to her fleeing beast, grabbed him by the tail, and spun him around. Following the fourth rotation, she flung him into the forest. His body slammed into a tree. The tree shook with enough intensity that a majority of its leaves tumbled to the ground, creating a cushion for the creature as it landed. Twitching uncontrollably, the creature took his last breath and with a deep sigh. His eyes glassed over in the open position gazing upon his assassin.

"Now what?" Callie gawked in dismay, the disappearing tension ameliorating her anxiety and the fear of losing her family.

Skeptical of the beast's intentions, she turned to see if he was perpetrating anything harmful, illegal, or immoral to the village and it's residents now that the creatures were destroyed.

The beast snorted in her direction. "I am yours. You are mine."

"What?" A bewildered Callie asked.

Instead of replying, the beast tossed the stiff, newly departed body onto his posterior. Focusing on Callie, he ambled to the center of the field where the other two bodies were located.

"We are one now. Defenders of the forest. Guardians of your village. Didn't the keepers of the forest inform you of your essential role?"

"It's not like there's a manual," Callie fired back.

"You will learn as we go. Place the departed creatures on my back." He instructed.

Dragging the creature she'd slain behind her, she assisted the plum beast. Her kills were clean, his messy. The maroon-colored blood from the creature's wounds dripped down his hind leg darkening his plum color into a brick shade. Positioning the other two deceased creatures alongside the one already on his back, Callie waited for new instructions.

"Come along, we must dispose of them away from the village."

Lifting the dead weight on to her shoulders, she followed him into the forest.  He led the way up and through mountainous terrain and into an undergrowth of small trees and shrubs, hiding an opening of a cave.

The vast, oblong, dark cave full of stalagmites, stalactites, aragonite crystals, flowstone, and cave bacon along with various water features, such as an underground river, and various waterfalls, served as a temporary burial ground for the four creatures.

The beast said the bodies couldn't be placed in the ground until they went through a transition. They were to be laid out until the fire in the sky ran its cycle. He would then send for her, she needed to see what transpired while she was away.

The beast planned on watching over the bodies and sent Callie home to survey the damage done to the village. She left but she was going home to check the damage her mother had caused while she was defending them.