Playing With Fire

by Jordan Mendez

  Vaze shot towards the beast’s head, and rammed his dagger deep into its skull. The beast didn’t even flinch. With one fluid movement, the beast whipped its arm around, and back handed Vaze so hard he flew back into the inn, creating a hole in the wall and knocking Vaze unconscious.

  Al could hear the losing battles all around him as he thrashed in the snake’s grasp, feeling helpless. Fear clouded his thoughts as he tried to find a spell to save himself with as the cobra reared back to strike.

  Just when he was about to give in a small voice spoke in Al’s head. Al couldn’t tell if it was insanity or not, but he stopped his thrashing and calmed himself. He knew what had to happen. Al straightened up, taking what little pride he could as he stared down his executioner. He would not let himself die a coward. The cobra hissed in amusement and opened its mouth, letting its fangs glint in the moonlight. Taking aim at Al’s bare neck, it struck.

  Kyra let out a horrified cry as she watched the cobra strike Al. He jerked when the snake bit him. She could not clearly see where it bit. Tears streamed down her eyes as the hand around her neck gripped harder, choking her. Matilda laughed with glee as Kyra’s eyes began to roll back.

  “That’s what you get when you try to defy Velkire!” the witch shrieked with insane pleasure. “My master shall destroy you all!”

  Al heard the witch’s shrieks of delight, and smiled. The cobra’s fang dug in hard to where it had aimed, just as Al had hoped for. It almost seemed taken aback when its partner flung itself to the ground, crumpling in agony as the poison spread throughout its body. Neither of the snakes had expected Al to move as fast or as powerfully as he did, and although he had only been able to jerk an inch or so, it was enough to move the boa in the path of the cobra’s vicious strike. Now running on pure adrenaline, Al flung out his hand to one side, and used the spell the voice had instructed him to.

  “Gladium Angeli!” With a flash of light, a sword of pure silver formed in his hand, and he slashed the cobra, slicing the its head clean off. Without missing a beat, Al charged at the witch. Before Matilda could react, Al stabbed the sword through her back.

  All at once, time seemed to stand still. The hand around Kyra’s throat disappeared, and she landed on her knees gasping for breath. The beast fell away into ash, and Yuki landed on her back, human once again. Matilda gazed up into the sky with shocked eyes as the cold blade jutted out from her chest. Kyra looked up in shock as her eyes locked on to the bloody blade, and then to Al behind the witch.

  “Y-you!?” The witch’s voice came out raspy and wet as she coughed up blood. “Y-you’re just a child!” Al shoved the blade in farther, and the witch screamed in agony.

  “Where is my sister?” Al hissed the words so coldly Kyra couldn’t even believe they came from such a sweet innocent boy. The witch chuckled and her lips curled into a smile.

  “You’ll never make it in time brat,” the witch cackled. “You’re sister will be as good as dead anyway!” Al put one hand around the witch’s neck and pulled her back until his mouth was by her ear.

  “Tell me, or I’ll send you to the Forbidden Land where even your black soul will be devoured.” The witch’s face flashed fear, but quickly changed to amusement.

  “Such an alluring young man you are,” the witch purred. “Very well, I shall reward you for your efforts with both of your greatest desires. Your sister is in the lost kingdom of Moraj, hidden by great walls battling a roaring ocean. But if you go after her, you shall lose a chance of a life time.” The witch slid back farther onto the blade so that her mouth was at Al’s ear.

  “You will miss the chance to find your parents,” she whispered. “If you wish to pursue them, your lead is your name.” Al’s eyes widened with amazement. The witch couldn’t have shocked him more, even if she told him that she wasn’t a woman at all. The witch’s lips contorted into an insane grin.

  “You really are an alluring young man, Alphonse Lucelles, just like your father…” With the witch’s last words, her life left her. Unable to concentrate on his spell, the weapon disappeared from existence and the dead witch dropped to the ground. The inn disappeared along with the dead snakes and the beast. Gidian hung in the air for a moment, very confused and still bound, then fell to the empty ground below, landing with a heavy thud. As soon as he hit the ground, the binds disappeared, and Gidian got up to dust the dirt off of his clothes.

  Yuki didn’t hesitate to drag Vaze and Siren over, and soon enough all eyes were trained on him, even though he was still standing shocked beyond words. Taking his time to realize his audience, Al stood in silence until finally making eye contact with his master.

  “You almost got everyone killed, you realize that don’t you?” Gidian looked at Al like a scolding father. Al nodded.

  “I’m sorry master,” was all Al could manage to say. Gidian sighed and shook his head.

  “If you ever try to trap me again, I’m going to kill you and hang you by your toes.” Gidian turned towards the vacant spot where the inn had previously stood. “Seems like our transportation is gone as well.” Gidian sighed again and mumbled a few words under his breath. In response, the ground before them grew, morphing into two brown mares connected to a cart.

  “We better get out of here before more of Velkire’s minions try to attack.” No one disagreed with his logic. Soon after, they were off into the night as Al healed Siren, Vaze and Yuki’s wounds while Kyra and Gidian conversed about the witch’s clue to where Scarlet was supposedly hidden.

  Although Al was pretending to listen to Kyra and Gidian, his mind was miles away.

  ‘You really are an alluring young man, Alphonse Lucelles, just like your father…’

  The words echoing over and over in Al’s head were driving him mad. The name she had called him sounded so familiar, as if it were an old friend forgotten in time returning unexpectedly after a decade. No matter how hard he tried, Al could not shake it from his head. Was the witch only calling his bluff? Or was she telling the truth, and there really was a chance to find his parents? Al had no answers for either questions, but he craved them.

  Chapter Fifteen

  A thud against my door caused my eyes to fly open, jolting me out of my slumber. Outside the glass doors the rain and thunder had stopped, revealing a deep blue night sky dotted with stars. The fire in the fireplace across the room was dying, casting a gentle light, but giving more shadows than sight.

  My heart fluttered in my chest as I slowly sat up, my eyes locked on the door that led out to the castle hallway. Hesitantly, I slipped my feet out from under the covers and onto the soft carpet. The silk from my nightgown tickled my skin as I moved, trying to tempt me back into the comfort of the bed.

  As soundlessly as I could manage, I made my way to the door and put my ear to it gently. Venomous hisses and swearing came from the other side of the door, followed by choked breathing and dull thuds against the wall. Then suddenly, the noises stopped with a soft thud. Another curse was muttered, and impatient footsteps retreated down the hallway.

  Curiosity ate away at me until the footsteps were faint enough to open the door. My hand struggled to grip the knob, as if acting as a warning, but the door pushed open easily. The hallway was poorly lit with torches, and my eyes strained to see the ground at my feet. A retreating light made its way down the hallway, growing dimmer with each fleeting second. Going against my instincts, I shut the door behind me and followed it, only to stop suddenly as my foot stepped on something limp and warm.

  I looked down, and had to hold back a scream. A dead demon servant lay at my feet, its eyes just beginning to haze over. I looked back to the light, trying to purge the sight of the demon from my mind, and tip toed as quickly and quietly as I could after it.

  Eventually, I got close enough to see who exactly I was following. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Enzio’s tattered red cape trailing behind him hurriedly. My instincts were screaming at me to turn back, but my curiosity got the better of me when I noticed how anxious his st
eps were. Something wasn’t right, and it was stressing him enough that he did not notice me.

  I followed Enzio through the hallways with hardly a close call. Eventually he came to a large intricate door and stopped, causing me to freeze in my tracks and hide behind a suit of armor. Placing the little candle holster on the ground, Enzio fumbled with a key in one hand, using the other to hold a small glass vile with emerald green liquids sloshing around inside of it. Enzio cursed as he almost dropped the key, and then unlocked the door. With one fluid motion, he scooped up the candle again and entered, leaving the door open just a crack with light of a fireplace leaking out into the dark hallway. Hushed voices floated to my ears, and beckoned me to the door. Hardly breathing, I put my eye up to the crack in the door, and saw a scene I never expected to see in my life.

  “Enzio!” Velkire wheezed in between rasping coughs. “I don’t need that damned medicine you keep giving me!” Velkire was in a large regal looking bed, paler than a ghost in contrast to his red and black pillows and blankets. Velkire tried to sit himself up, but Enzio stopped him.

  “My lord, you must take it,” Enzio pleaded. “Without it, your body will fail you. You must put up with it for now.” Velkire roared in anger and smacked Enzio’s hands away.

  “Don’t tell me what to do, you mongrel!” Velkire forced himself up, and his covers slipped down to his stomach. My hand shot to my mouth to stop myself from gasping in horror as I saw Velkire’s bare torso. Blackish green patches dotted all over it, with red blood oozing out of each one slowly. The stench of rotting flesh met my nose, and I had to fight the urge to vomit.

  “Master, take the medicine,” Enzio said coolly. “I promise you your new body will be ready soon enough. Then you won’t have problems with your flesh rotting away again.”

  Velkire glared at Enzio, then snatched the vial away and drank it quickly. In detest, Velkire threw the empty vial to the ground, shattering the fragile glass into a million pieces. Amazingly, the rotting flesh began melt away and became new again, leaving a flawless torso with no trace that it had ever been there before.

  “You better hurry the hell up and purify my new body Enzio,” Velkire hissed. “If I have to take that foul medicine much longer I’ll have your head for it.” Enzio flinched, but tried to keep his composure.

  “Sir, please take into account that you placed a demon inside the body as well,” Enzio started. “I cannot rid your new body of its soul with the sword Alma Ladron while there is still a demon harbored in it.” Velkire hissed in disdain and threw his blankets off.

  “I’ll take care of that myself,” he said with his grey eyes flaring up in rage. “Just make sure Alma Ladron is ready in time.”

  Suddenly, strong arms grabbed me from behind and dragged me back into the shadows of the hallway. The urge to scream was succumbed by a mixture of shock and fear of being heard by Velkire and Enzio. Honestly I couldn’t decide which fate was worse, being tortured by Velkire, or letting who knows what would happen at the hands of a demon. Not even my racing panicked heart could decide which fate was best as I was yanked around a corner and pressed up against the wall by a warm but firm body. The wall opened up into a veranda leading to the courtyard, revealing a clearing night sky with a dazzling full moon. The moonlight casted silvery light on the brown locks of my attacker. A hand clasped itself over my mouth as my perpetrator brought their lips to my ear.

  “Make no sound what-so-ever,” Alastair’s normally strong but now timid voice whispered into my ear, tickling it with hot breath. “If he sees you, he will kill you.” Alastair pulled his head away, but kept his body pressed against mine, keeping us glued to the wall. Slowly, he inched us closer to the opening, until my hand traced against the stone rail and felt the cold air nip at my heels. Around the corner, the door squeaked as it swung open, and without warning Alastair scooped me up into his strong arms.

  Making less noise than humanly possible, Alastair hopped over the rail into the open air of the night, both of our hair flying in each other’s faces as we sailed towards the ground, landing as though Alastair had the padded feet of a cat. Heavy footsteps echoed on the stone walls above us as Enzio made his way to the overlooking veranda we had been just seconds before. My heart squeezed in my chest with every step he took, as if someone was playfully aiming a knife at my heart.

  Alastair placed me on my feet and pressed me close against the wall, as if trying to merge us into the stone. Though his breathing was calm and under control, I could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest, almost in unison with mine. Both of our pulses sped up dangerously high as the footsteps stopped directly above us, and in my mind I visualized Enzio peering out over the courtyard with his venomous red eyes.

  A long agonizing silence lacerated my heart and I fought to keep my breathing as discrete as possible, though fear kept choking me, making it difficult to breathe at all. Alastair was like a stone statue, only moving once to press the two of us closer to the wall, but I only noticed after I felt slightly constricted. Right when I thought I was about to scream out of pure anxiety, footsteps retreated away back towards the previous hallway, until they were only soft echoes of the past threat. When the echo was out of earshot entirely, Alastair released me, and we both let out a sigh of choked relief.

  “Alastair,” I managed to say in a choked whisper. “What was that?” Alastair looked into my frightened eyes with a slight regret as opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again and shook his head with his gaze falling to the ground.

  “I can’t tell you,” he said, not daring to let his eyes reach mine again. “I want to desperately, but there is only one person who can do that. I’m sorry, but just can’t.” Quickened footsteps echoed in the halls above us, and Alastair’s breath stopped in his throat. In one swooping motion, Alastair pressed his hand against the wall, and to my shock, the brick slid back, and the wall behind me disappeared, leaving me to fall back in sickly dark surprise.

  “Stay here until I come back for you,” Alastair said with a look of agitation and fear as I landed on the cold damp ground inside of the trap door; a look that disappeared when the door snapped shut, taking the light of the moon with it. I was at a loss of words as I sat alone there in the cold damp darkness, and the only emotion in my body was utter fear. Suddenly feeling very small, I wrapped my quivering arms around my knees.

  ‘Stay here until I come back for you.’ The words echoed around in my head as I sat and waited, but the longer I waited the fainter the words became. Eventually the silence and pitch black darkness got to me, and with trembling hands I felt my way along the ground, until my fingers traced the cold stone wall.

  Not letting my hand fall from the stone’s cold touch, I made my way to my feet, and felt along the wall as I took my first hesitant step. This step was followed by another, and another, until I was walking along the wall at a steady pace. I wasn’t sure at all which direction I was going, or what could lie ahead of me, but my legs would not cease to move, as if they were bewitched.

  I closed my eyes, without much of a change in the pitch darkness that already surrounded me, and concentrated on the cold stone against my fingertips. Tiny embers appeared on my skin, and began to grow into wispy flames, illuminating the black nothingness with a faint orange glow as they crept down my forearm and traced my fingerprints onto the wall.

  Opening my eyes, I took my hand away and willed the flames to grow in their little spots of light, until the darkness was fleeing from a large sphere of flame. Not drawing my attention away from the now roaring flames, I brushed my hands across them, letting them lick and kiss my hands as if the flames were loving pets. Easy enough, they followed my hands and spread across the wall, and as I took my hands away they retreated into every crook and cranny the wall had, making an intricate flame design.

  Satisfied with my regained sight, I hesitantly let my eyes eat up my surroundings. I blinked once; then twice. Though I knew my eyes were not wrong, I rubbed them hard anyway, as if it were an instinct. B
ut even so, my surroundings did not change, and left me baffled beyond belief.

  Though my flames burned bright, other than my small circle of light, everything was pitch-black. There seemed to be absolutely nothing that existed besides me and the flames, and even that seemed to be devoured by the darkness that lurked around like a hungry beast.

  A new sense of fear draped over me, and out of fright my flames exploded from gentle pets to a blazing inferno, engulfing myself and the small circle of light. This proved useless. The darkness still remained. I was practically in flame, but I was cold. Suddenly feeling very small and helpless, I grasped my sides shivering.

  Beyond the roaring flames, a new noise reached my ears. It was loud, as if a stampede was rushing straight towards me, but instead of the rushing of feet or hooves, a violent whistling pierced my ears. Unable to think, I faced the direction of this new sound, unsure of what lay in front of me.

  As the noise grew louder my flames began to shy away, until finally I was hit with a burst of powerful rushing wind, whipping my hair and nightgown back with such force I thought I might fly back as well. A sharp high shriek that reminded me of a Shadow stabbed my ears as the wind rushed past, extinguishing my flames and leaving me alone in the darkness. My heart raced in my chest and my entire body was shaking violently. I wanted desperately to scream, but no air would escape my lips.

  The second the wind disappeared along with the shriek, I fell to my knees, as if the wind had been the only thing holding me up. Gasping for breath, I submerged my body in new flames. The warm wisps only greeted my cold skin for a moment before flickering out like a candle next to an open window on a windy night. I tried over and over again desperately, but all had the same result. Finally realizing the fact that I was alone in the darkness without my one defense, I screamed.