Page 11 of Scalebound

My grandmother stood still, which was abnormal from the amount of times she had heard me complain about my tower. Usually, she would rattle off about some sort of statistic or myth that I had repeatedly heard, but this time was different.

She tapped her foot against the stones, the slight thud filling the silence.

“What if,” her voice trailing, “We go outside and train?”

“But will someone see me? The fire. It will stand out.”

“We will be quick,” she said swiftly, giving me a rebellious smirk, hiding the fact that she knew how dangerous this was. She did it so fast that I would’ve missed it if I had blinked. She knew how close we were to the Forbidden Forest and that anything could reach us if I were to train outside. I was grateful that she was more lenient today compared to last night and the harshness she portrayed.

But I just wanted out of the scale-forsaken tower.

Nana quickly reached a small rose off by the cobblestone wall of the garden and smushed it, killing the roots. Immediately, the veil of my tower crumbled down. She broke the tethered connection to the magic, breaking the link. When it came to the magic from the Old Religion, anything done that lasted more than an hour needed an energy source. Needed some sort of connection.

Usually this is shown as the object looking translucent, a different color, weakened, or even having a small purple layer radiating from it. I didn’t even notice the rose and had no time to guess that it was the medium for the hold of my veil for the time being.

Passing the line of where the purple veil disappeared, we made our way out into the small grassy field outside of my tower, near the Forbidden Forest.

The moon shimmered along the dark grass, the sweet honey flowers warming my senses as I savored the outdoors. Closing my eyes, I breathed in the flowers from the garden and the ones that wrapped along the vines outside my tower. Being barefoot, I took in the feel of the blades of grass between my toes and enjoyed the brief moment.

“You ready, child?”

I was never ready. I despised my abilities more than most would if they had them. It meant that I was cursed and discarded to the side, hidden away like the precious jewels of an unused crown.

Nana gave me another one of her mysterious looks, the moon catching the glimmer in her eye. She circled her arms large in the air, collecting amethyst smoke. The mist started to turn into a large wolf-like monster. Panic flooded my stomach as its fangs grew longer and longer until it leveled a stare at me. The eyes were an empty void of purple as it sunk low, ready to pounce. Lunging in my direction, the beast was wild and ferocious, poised to tear me apart.

I gulped, raising my hands in defense, calling to the flames that showed themselves as speckles of red life dancing across my fingertips, outstretching them to the wolf-like creature. A pillar of living flame shot through my hands. The creature dodged my magic and began to encircle me in a predator-like motion.

Creating orbed fireballs, I launched them at the wolf before me. Its fangs flared out, a scowl furrowed from his beady eyes as he hissed, ready to attack again.

I moved my arm swiftly in the night sky, conjuring up a larger fireball, ready to hit him with it.

A growl formed from the pointed teeth jutting from his upper jaw. The fireball in front of me was gathering more flames, expanding with the energy sizzling beneath my skin. He sprung toward me, yet again, his claws outstretched, the purple smoke wolf ready to rip me to shreds, when I hurdled the flame in its direction, watching it vanish entirely. The smoke faded, seeping into the dark forest to my side.

I collapsed on the soil, breathing heavily, a disappointed glance on my grandmother’s face. “You have no endurance, my dear,” my grandmother said, approaching me. She was right.

I wanted to protest, anger rising in my cheeks. “That’s what staying in a tower all day does to you,” I blurted under my breath, unsure if she would hear me.

“Get up. Again,” she said, turning around, filling the sky with more purple-smoked creatures and monsters for me to fight. I sighed, knowing that it was something that I had to do if I wanted to be outside of my cage for a few more hours.

We did it for longer than my body was prepared for. I was gasping for air and struggling for breath as I fought more wolves, bears, snakes, and giant spiders. I was exhausted and about to give up when she conjured up a creature I hadn’t expected.

Nana was quick this time. Her eyes darkened, and her arms flew through the air with a veracity and fierceness I didn’t know someone as old as she could muster. She twirled and side-stepped, looking back at me with curiosity and intensity as she released a winged creature with purple smoke.

Its wings were filled with holes, the head slimmed, and its teeth gnarly and gnashing out. The talons were long and almostcurled. Horns were sticking out from the top of its head and throughout the rest of its body. I had never seen this creature before, yet the dread that pooled in my stomach recognized it immediately.

“A Deathly,” I whispered, pulling new energy into my movements. The purple-smoked creature flapped in the air, being six feet tall. It screeched. Its eyes were pits of blackness. The ferocity of the winged beast stirred the blood in my veins, its leathery skin and feral teeth seeming to have the urge to devour me whole.

I looked at my grandmother to see her reaction. She heard me and nodded in acknowledgment. How did she know about the Deathlies?

The winged creature flew straight toward me, quicker than the others. It saw me and immediately painted me as the target. The body and wings were a membranous purple-gray, an unnerving entity making me recoil. Gasping, I fell backward, the Deathly weaving toward me.

It swooped down and nipped at my face, but I rolled over before it could touch me. I struggled to breathe, not having been as nervous when fighting the other creatures. Why was I more nervous with this one?

A scream escaped my throat as it swooped back down toward me. I couldn’t remove my eyes from its lifeless eye sockets, somehow glaring into my soul. Cora was right. It looked like death itself.

Before it could touch me, I lifted my arms, lifting a flame circling me, protecting me from the Deathly. It swung over the top of my head, its tail dipping into the fiery inferno. It started to screech in response, the fire slowly overtaking its body until it froze and crippled down to the ground. The purple smoke dwindled into nothing.

I could feel water streaking down my face. My chest heaved. It was horrifying. Of all the creatures I had studied and memorized, that one was the worst and most horrific monster.

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