Page 18 of Magic Cursed

Just when I think things can’t get worse, something happens that I didn’t even know was possible. The demon multiplies before us, one to two, then two to four, four to eight, more, and more, until it seems there are just as many demons as there are people.

The market explodes into chaos. Each shadow demon finds a new victim. People run, scream, hide, fight, and ultimately die. Shadow demons don’t leave survivors.Ever. It’s only a matter of time before they come for us. My heart is racing and I’m shaking. But I remind myself that I don’t have room for fear or panic. If I let it take hold, it’ll cripple me, and I won’t be able to think straight. I have to find a way to get us out of here and fast. I search around frantically. The alleyway dead-ends into a wall, and the windows are too far up to climb into.Think Sahra, how can we escape?Then my eyes fall on a sewage grate a few stalls down.

“Follow me,” I order the children, and run for the sewage grate laying snug in the ground. I almost cry in relief. If we can just get in the sewer before the shadow demons come for us, we might have a chance at escape. I pull the grate off.

A small, high-pitched scream pierces the air to sing with the chorus of agony around us. My heart stops. I whip around to see a shadow demon’s spear in Titi’s leg. It pulls the girl to it. Maasin grabs Titi’s hand and tries to yank her free, only to be dragged with her. They hold hands like it’s everything, staring into one another’s eyes with the unspoken promise that they won’t let go. It reminds me so much of Daimis and me. Only we had let go.

Instead of jumping into the sewer and away from danger, as a survivor should, I unsheathe my blades and run toward the shadow demon. It will probably be the death of me, but I’ll be damned if I don’t at least try to save the kids. They deserve a future, and I can’t, Iwon’t,let the demon take it from them.

I slice through the shadow demon’s spear that pierced through Titi’s leg and to my surprise, it turns into a small cloud of dark mist, which fades into nothing. I have no time to make sense of it. I’m just relieved that Titi is momentarily free.

“Get in the sewer, now!” I yell at Titi and Maasin and place myself between the demon and the children. It doesn’t go unnoticed that I’m doing exactly what Rock had done for me only the day before, and I had mocked him for it. Perhaps he rubbed off on me more than I realized. Perhaps I wanted to help Thaaryn more than I thought I did. And I was right about him being stupid, just as I am being stupid right now.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Maasin help Titi and they both disappear into the hole in the ground. I pray to the gods and goddesses above and below that they get a better future than Daimis and I got when our world was turned upside down by death.Don’t let go of each other.

I take every bit of the fear coursing through me and turn it into determination. I have to give the children enough time to escape. The shadow demons could still follow them. I can’t let that happen.

“Come on then,” I say like a growl to the demon floating in the air in front of me. Before I can even finish my words, the shadow demon’s spear-like fingers grow, lashing out at me at incredible speeds. I slice at the first one, it disappears into another cloud of mist, and then I slash at the next. The demon keeps on the offense sending dark spear after dark spear at me.

I use both of my blades: swinging, spinning, dodging, and slicing. It’s a deadly dance of swords and shadow spears. I let the trancing lull of the battle consume me so that I am no longer a person, I am my blades, I am a tool for defending, protecting, saving. Every thought leaves me save for my next move and counter move. As the minutes pass by, the screams around me become fewer and fewer, followed by dull thuds which echo in the alleyway like a ticking clock, counting down to the end of my own life.

Another shadow demon joins the one fighting me. My muscles are burning, and sweat drips down my temples and spine, but I don’t slow. I must keep fighting. Soon the silence of the alleyway screams at me, and I know I’m the last one standing. The other demons join the ones attacking me. I won’t be able to stop the onslaught of so many for long. I can’t jump into the sewer, they’ll only follow, and then I’ll lead them straight to the children. The best I can do is keep the shadow demons busy long enough for Titi and Mason to get to safety.

The first spear to break through my defenses makes its mark into my right shoulder. I cry out and slice it with my blade, disintegrating the shadow spear, and warm blood seeps from the open wound. The shock and pain distract me enough for another spear to pierce my right thigh in a sharp and unforgiving bite. Slowed down by my injuries, I don’t have time to cut that one before another hits my left shoulder, and then there are two more in me. My blades fall to the ground with a clatter, and I’m lifted to eye level with one of the demons. The others float around me. The bastards just hover there, watching, expressionless, while my blood pools under me, the dripping and my heavy breathing the only sounds.

This is not how I am supposed to die. Anger builds in me like a wheel gaining momentum down a hill. It blots out the worst of my pain and fear, and I latch onto it. The shadow demon comes closer opening its razor-sharp, tooth-filled mouth. This fucker wants to suck my life from me, my soul. A tingling warmth that matches my anger builds within me. It starts in my stomach and spreads throughout my body until there is nowhere else for it to go. The creature is about to clamp its jaws over mine.

“No!” I scream.

The creature stops and closes its mouth. I glare daggers of hatred at the demon. I feelpowerful. I look down and am both confused and horrified to see inky black shadows, tinged in icy blue trailing from my fingers. More darkness leaks from all over me, twisting, turning, and moving toward the shadow demons like snakes stalking a rodent. The shadow demons back away from my darkness. The one holding me lowers me to the ground and retracts his spears from my body. I cry out in pain and stumble to one knee. More warm blood seeps from my fresh wounds.

The tingling warmth of the new magic radiating within grows hotter and hotter, until it’s scorching. I can’t turn it off. I can’t control it. My insides feel like they’re boiling. I can’t think, or move, or stop the tendrils of darkness from spreading. My fear is no more on the shadow demons backing away from my darkness—they are no longer the worst threat. I am. The magic within me is, and it’s burning me alive. It consumes every part of my being, and when I can’t take another second of it. A torrential scream rips from me before there is only empty, lovely, blackness.

Chapter6

Past Meets Future

Iscream and scream. I can’t find the light, there’s only empty darkness. Its ilk is everywhere, slithering over my mind like a terrifying caress, taunting me with lies of false comfort. The endless shadows twist and turn over my every thought, my very essence, consuming me, until it is me. Whispered in my thoughts are,I am the darkness. I am evil.

A voice penetrates the shadows, a beacon in the endless night. It’s distant at first but gradually grows louder. I reach for the sound with my mind, clawing, fighting my way out of the tar-like darkness. That voice, smooth, deep. . . familiar. I follow it—I need it. I’ve needed it for so long. I grasp onto it, and it pulls me out.

I open my eyes.

“It’s okay,” the voice says. “You’re okay now. You’re safe.”

I stop screaming and suck in air as if I’d just run a mile. My blurred vision works to focus on a stranger’s jade-green eyes rimmed in dark lashes against rich bronzed skin. The man in front of me is the most ruggedly beautiful man I’ve ever seen. He watches me examine him, still and silent, a confident invitation. And I take it. His black, curly hair falls on his forehead and frames his concerned face. Stubble grows on his strong jaw and his lips are full and inviting. His eyes have faint dark circles under them like he hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in a while. He looks a little older than me, yet his jade-green eyes seem to see too much—know too much—for someone of his age.

The stranger gently holds my biceps, and only now do I realize I’m griping his muscled forearms so hard that my nails are digging into his skin. Like if I let go, I’ll fall back into the darkness. As if he alone is the only thing keeping me grounded in this world. I don’t want to let go. Unnerving, this unexplainable connection to a stranger. I loosen my grip on his forearms so that my nails are no longer digging into his skin. Not that he seemed to notice. I should let go completely. Why haven’t I let go yet?

“Your eyes?” That voice again, it ignites emotions in me that I don’t understand, unnerving me further.

“What about them?” I ask, my voice hoarse.

He shakes his head a little, like coming out of a trance. “Um, nothing. They just remind me of someone is all.” He releases my arms, breaking the connection that I couldn’t seem to. The stranger backs off the edge of the bed and gracefully takes a seat at a high-backed, blue cushioned chair. I feel cold and alone without his warm hands. Which really freaks me out. What is wrong with me? I shake my head a little.

“Apologies,” the mystery man says. “You were having a nightmare, screaming and flailing. I was concerned you’d hurt yourself.”

I’m more concerned by my reaction to his touch. I eye him wearily. “I get those from time to time. I haven’t hurt myself yet but thank you.” It’s true that I get nightmares, but this was a new one and much worse than the others.

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