Page 62 of Tales of a Monstrous Heart
A dark fiend that couldn’t be killed with fey magic.
There was a dark magic long ago that fed on fey magic, and used it to become stronger, one that was supposed to be dead, buried beneath those Kysillian Kings’ seals. Just like that anthrux should have been.
Reimor.This creature should be beneath the earth.
I looked down at my muddy palms, seeing the glow of my magic waiting there, the heat of it still not content even with what it had already done.
I shouldn’t be able to resurrect a cursed being with nothing more than a flare of energy. My hands curled into fists as I forced myself to remember the things I longed to forget.
They hunted us for a reason. We are a being without limit, and if you show them such limitlessness, they’ll come for you too.
A warning I’d promised myself to never forget. I’d given it that strength from my magic, from the endlessness of it. But magic wasn’t the only gift I possessed.
I reached for my bag, rummaging for the sword just as another screech filled the air … one not of a demon. The sun was blocked out for a mere moment as a long shadow moved across the uneven grass.
‘Is that a wrywing !?’ William called in disbelief.
The dark scaled body of a wrywing came diving from the skies, landing between us and the creature. The dark scales rippling across its body like armour and its wings flared wide, deadly sharp talons at the point of each joint catching the sunlight. The ground shook as the wrywing’s large, clawed feet dug into the turf, its wings slapping behind it in threat. The updraught almost sent me tumbling backwards.
It roared and turned its head, looking down its lethal scaled body at me with familiar green eyes. The spiked tail swishing from side to side with annoyance. Sharp teeth bared in its large snout as scaled nostrils flared with irritation.
‘A-Alma?’ I whispered in horrified confusion.
The wrywing form of Alma turned its attention back to the tallet as it charged again – only the wrywing was ready, and the pair becoming nothing but a whirl of scales and smoke as they fought. A wrywing: a natural enemy of the dark, able to devour dark spells and creatures made of it.
‘Kat !’ William cried, giving me just enough time to duck as another large root soared past to help the wrywing, knocking the tallet back so Alma’s deadly jaws could snap around its clawed hand.
The dark fiend screamed as I raced across to Emrys, ducking and dodging as clumps of earth and roots sailed past me.
‘She hasn’t been that big before !’ I half screamed in hysteria, stumbling to his side.
‘I’m slightly occupied right now, Croinn,’ he growled back as he ducked to avoid another surge of dark energy from the tallet, dragging me down with him.
‘What if she can’t turn back !’ I worried. Ignoring the current chaos and the dart of dark magic that barely missed my ear as I continued to watch the beastly form of Alma snap and wrestle with the dark being.
‘Just give me a minute and we’ll sort it out,’ Emrys hissed through tight lips.
Alma threw the tallet to the ground, sending dirt into the air as roots protruded, wrapping around its limbs to trap it with William’s help.
Except it untangled itself too easily. Knew the magic, was somehow stronger than …
Emrys had asked if I used magic in my healing. My magic. Not a summoning.
A tallet, a curse that possessed and fed off the magic it found. I’d fed it my own. It wouldn’t die because there was no power stronger than a Kysillian flame. Only that which was trapped beneath.
The wrywing gave out an annoyed cry as another of its bites did nothing. Then I realised just how useless my fear had made me. I pulled my father’s blade from my bag, the hilt glowing hot against my palm.
Magic isn’t the only gift we possess. Those words came back to me so softly on the wind, like breath against the shell of my ear. The sword heavy and waiting for command.
As if sensing something shifting within me, I felt Emrys’ dark eyes roaming over my face.
‘What are you—’ he began, but I was already running, faster than I ever had in my life, ducking and sliding beneath the large monstrous roots to reach the centre, where William’s magic was struggling to contain the tallet as Alma’s sharp tail failed to land another killing blow.
I allowed my magic to streak down my arm, to wrap around my very bones, giving me strength as I felt the blade shift, becoming a throwing knife. I released it. Let it whistle like a flaming arrow through the carnage to bury itself in the creature’s chest right where its heart should be. Dark, sour ichor seeped from the wound and down its grey flesh.
It froze mid screech, those demonic eyes fixed on me, mouth open as it tried to roar. I hurtled into it, hand closing around that knife as its teeth snapped an inch from my face. I yanked the knife free. The creature hissed and fell back, smoke rising to try and escape, but the blade lengthened once more just as I turned, raised it and in one clean swipeslashed deeply across its middle, making its clumsy body heave and pulsate.
I drew my arm back for another strike, only for Emrys to be there, bright white light between his palms and wrapping around the creature, it screamed but glowed with that same light.
