Chapter One: Like Mother, Like Daughter

A Chapter by Henry Garner

The paws of the great white beast tore at the moist forest floor as the sun dipped below the tree line. Her short curly silver-blue hair, glistening like, whipped across her face as they raced through the dense forest. The chill wind tore at the translucent purple leaves as they weaved between the white trees. She clung tighter to the beast as its pace slowed. Before them stood the crumbling ruins of a once great city, destroyed in a war not so long ago. A single white building stood among the rubble, its great walls marred by blackened vines creeping up its sides and in to the crevices between the ancient bricks. She gently scratched the beast’s chin, its muzzle raised toward the sky as it sniffed the moist air, wagging its long bushy tail as she firmly planted her feet on the ground. The beast’s fur glistened like ice in what little sunlight peaked through the overcast sky as she ran her fingers through it.

“It was a long journey, you should rest.”

The beast’s concern nagged at her as it whined and gently nudged her.

"Oh, Lumina, I’ll be fine. I promise."

She scratched the soft fine fur between the beast’s eyes, carefully avoiding the bright blue crystal on her forehead, as she reassured her. Lumina fell to countless shards of ice on the forest floor behind her as she briskly made her way toward the ruins. Leaves mashed beneath her simple flat soled boots as she carefully climbed the still fairly intact stairs and passed through the monumental threshold. Once inside the safety of the ancient building, she quickly bent down and pulled a small oval shaped gem from her dark blue boot. With a sigh, she jammed it into the opening she knew had to be there. It glowed like a little candle, setting off a chain reaction as hundreds of similar gems flickered on. The soft clicking of her heels on the hard stone floor broke the deafening silence that filled the ancient halls as she followed the lights down the long narrow passage, the stale moist air filled her lungs with every step. She cautiously navigated the abandoned halls, carefully stepping over the cracked up-heaved stones. The hall quickly gave way to a large round room, its ornate threshold engraved with ancient letters few could read. The gems that ran along the outer edges of the room grew brighter as she approached the life-sized statue standing in the center of the room. The female figure meticulously carved from the most precious of stones stood tall with her arm out stretched, holding her staff above her head. Her long curly hair cascaded down her back, in life it had been white as the purest snow. Her heart ached as she starred into the lifeless empty stone eyes. She longed to have her look back at her with cobalt blue eyes, so much like her own. She lowered her head as she choked back the tears that would inevitably follow and ran her fingers along the name etched into the lower part of the staff. Isadora Eira Clarus, the inscription gave away the identity of the warrior.

“Mother…..” She whispered as she grabbed the dainty snowflake shaped pendant hanging around her petite neck with her long slender fingers. Every muscle in her body tensed as the lights quickly blinked out. She held her breath as she listened intently for the culprit.

“Show yourself!”

The menacing laughter reverberated through the room as she commanded the unseen foe.

“The Mighty Isadora’s progeny, somehow, I expected more.” The harsh deep voice sneered at her from somewhere in the shadows. Ice darted to the edges of the room as it rapidly crystalized under her feet, searching for the source of the voice.

“Sorry to disappoint.” She made no point of hiding the contempt in her voice as her icy tendrils located the creature. She drew from the old magic that hung thick in the air as ice crystallized on her fingertips and quickly spread like water up her arms and over her royal blue bodice, embellished with elaborate silver designs, and down her deep blue asymmetrical skirt as it coated the rest of her body.

“It will just make it that much easier to dispose of you.”

Her icy armor crunched under her as she hit the floor with a thud. It seemed as though the weight of her opponent was upon her as quickly as it had lifted from her icy tendril. A sense of debilitating fear filled her as she starred into the beast’s narrow glowing red eyes, its claws piercing her armor like a sword hot from the forge. The crushing weight of the enormous beast bearing down on her quickly snapped her out of her fear induced trance. She swung her arm around and drove the sharp icy protrusions covering her elbow deep into the beast’s face with all the force she could muster, breaking them off as the beast staggered backwards, howling in pain. In one swift movement, she rolled out from under the beast and got to her feet. The magic in the air swirled into a watery sphere as she pulled it into her open palm. The sphere burst into a raging river as she threw it across the threshold, coating the passageway with ice as it roared through the halls. She sprinted after it, navigating every bump and turn in the pitch-black hall as though the ice was an extension of her, the beast’s mighty roar echoing behind her.

The rain beat on her as she slid across the threshold and spun around to face her foe. Her eyes grew wide as she looked upon the monstrosity set on ridding the realm or her. It was unlike any summoned beast she had encountered, its flesh comprised of white vines tightly woven under silver metal plates with razor sharp claws and fangs like daggers. She watched as the vines pulled taught, its purple tint becoming more pronounced as they sealed the wound she had inflicted. I hate things that heal. She thought as she concentrated on the countless drops of rain falling from the clouds above as the beast crouched close to the ground, flicking its spiked tail as it prepared to pounce. Before the beast’s feet could leave the ground, the countless droplets turned to ice, piercing the beast like a thousand needles. The beast writhed in pain as she willed the ice that had seeped inside the beast to expand, tearing it to pieces. She stood cautiously as she watched the beast fall helplessly to pieces, its ragged vines splayed around the metal plates that once protected them. Time seemed to stand still as she warily moved toward the shattered remains of her foe, intently looking for any sign of life that may have remained. Her heart leapt into her throat as the vines rustled around the metal plates, quickly drawing more material in as they pulled back together. She took a step back as the beast rose once again, this time standing at least a head higher than her and twice as wide as before. She spun around and ran as fast as her legs could carry her, deep into the Lyran forest.

She weaved in between the ancient trees, nimbly sprinting over roots and rocks and artfully dodging stray branches, with no clear direction in mind as the beast trampled the forest behind her. Her armor melted off of her and fell to the forest floor, turning back to ice as it joined with the puddles already forming on the ground, as she attempted to simultaneously pick up speed and slow the beast's advance. The trees reflected in the thick layer of pristine ice as it quickly covered the forest floor in all directions as far as the eye could see. She raised her arms to cover her face as she leapt headlong through the thicket, a low hanging branch scratching her cheek as she burst into a small clearing. She stumbled, losing the battle for her balance as she tumbled into an open fire. She squealed as she rolled out, fervently patting her skirt to extinguish the spreading fire. She glanced up to see a man sitting on a fallen log, holding a haunch of meat with his mouth agape, starring in disbelief at his dinner guest. She cringed as splintered wood and ash filled the air as the beast crashed down upon the man’s fire. She sprung to her feet and spun around in time to watch the man as he drew his sword and beheaded the beast in one swift movement. Her breath caught in her throat, chills running down her spine as she stared at the luminescent violet blade, she could practically feel it devouring the magic from the air around it. The scent of decaying flesh pulled her attention towards the beasts severed head eating through the ice coated ground as it shriveled and dissipated into the forest floor. Her heart pounded in her chest as she scurried backwards, barely escaping the blackening ice as it raced toward her, spreading the decay to every inch of forest touched by her magic. She winced as she returned the ice to its natural state, holding her breath as the decay disappeared into the brush.

Leaves and vines drug across the ground and slithered under the metal plates, repairing the beast nearly as quickly as the decay sloughed off. The man held his sword precariously as they simultaneously looked up from the beast, locking eyes momentarily before she turned and ran off in the direction with the least obstructions. She hopped over a fallen log as she took off into the forest once more, tripping and stumbling over the thick brush, scraping her arms and legs as she kept moving, the sound of heavy boots growing louder as the man trampled through the forest behind her. She slid to a stop, mud and mashed up leaves caking her boots, making herself as small as possible as she slid into the trunk of a tree. Squeezing her eyes shut she focused on the drizzling rain falling on every inch of the forest, attempting to use it to map out her surroundings. Shards of bark tore from the opening, pelting her with debris as she backed herself against the interior of the tree. She stared into grey eyes, speckled with blue and green, with irises rimmed in dark grey. Her heart pounded in her chest as the man pressed his index finger to his lips. She peered at the man as he turned to peek out the opening, catching a glimpse of his sharply pointed ears before he quickly pulled back, pressing himself to the tree opposite of her. The beast zipped by in a flash of green and a flurry of debris.

“We can’t hide in here forever.” He whispered as the leaves settled back to the ground.

She let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding, “It’s not after you, you should get out of here while you can.”

The man bit his lip as he looked her in the eye with a ferocity only a Scelestus could manage without trying, “There’s a lake not far from here,” His pearly fangs glinted in the faint light as he spoke.

Her eyebrow perked up as she shifted her gaze to the sword hanging on his hip. “How good are you on ice?” she asked. He smiled at her, clearly amused, as she rested her hand on the far side of the opening and peeked out, slipping out swiftly with him following closely behind. He scanned his surroundings, turning left on his heel, “This way” he said as he looked down at her.

A chill down his back as she grabbed his hand, leaving a snowflake imprint on his hand as she looked into his eyes. “Trust me” she said as she headed back into the blanched trees, ice coating the underbrush as she took off with him close on her heels, traversing the ice as though he was one of her people. She peered over her shoulder as the ear-splitting sound of cracking ice and trees being ripped from the ground echoed through the forest around her. She watched the beast slide uncontrollably across the ice, desperately tearing at anything to steady itself, before they slid down the steep incline and leapt onto the stream at the bottom. The beast splashed into the stream behind them in an avalanche of ice, mud, and brush as they fled downstream. The water beat on the boulders protruding from the rocky bottom of the deep stream as she weaved between them. She fought to catch her breath as she came to a sudden halt where the stream dropped off sharply into the lake far below. She glanced at the man beside her and then out across the lake, where the trees turned green, the beast barreling toward them. With a deep breath, she leapt from the cliff, plummeting into the lake below. She paddled quickly out of the way as the man fell in after her.

The water bent to her will as the beast crashed into the water, seeping deep into its body. She knew there had to be something she missed, something controlling it. She winced as the water touched on something inside of the beast’s chest, a dark and ominous power emanated from it, polluting the water with its foul energy. The water ripped the source from the beast and slammed it with full force into the rocks on the lake’s floor as if it were her own hand, where it shattered into countless red glinting shards. With one last mighty roar the beast fell to pieces and sank to the bottom of the lake, defeated once and for all, as she swam toward the shore.

She sighed with relief as she stood on the muddy ground, recuperating as she absorbed the left-over water into her body. The beast was defeated, but she still didn’t know who had summoned it, or what the dark energy used to summon it was. She scanned the lake, watching with her mouth agape as the man who had helped her escape pulled himself to shore and disappeared into the forest. She snapped her mouth shut at the deafening sound of wings beating above her head. The ground shook with a mighty force as a great beast descended in front of her, examining her with its fierce emerald green eyes at it folded its enormous webbed wings against its muscular back and dug its long sharp claws into the moist dirt. She straightened up as she threw her hands in the air in front of her and winced as the beast let out a monstrous roar, its dark brown scales and sleek black horns glistening in the setting sun.

“I surrender! Please don’t eat me.” She winced as she pulled her chin inwards and hunched her shoulders.