Dark Legacy Ch. 1b

Sleep seemed to last only seconds when someone began shaking me awake. “Draco. Wake up,” I heard Mother said urgently. ”Come on, wake up!”

At first, I was going to shrug her off like I did every morning when she woke me up for school, but there was unnatural urgency in her voice.

I was slowly starting to wake up when my senses started to perceive the smell of burning wood and crackling wood. At first, it took me a moment to comprehend what was going on. And then it hit me like a punch.

The house was on fire.

My mother had her daggers attached to her hip. Sparks of burning embers danced in the air before me like fireflies and the air was thick with smoke and heat.

The air was thick with heat. Outside, there was yelling and the sound of metal striking metal. It was the sound of battle.

Sleep was gone. I was wide awake and aware now. Confusion still gripped my senses, but I had it under control. It was like starting a book halfway through. I knew what was happening now, it was just the in between that was unclear. But that could wait. The now was all I needed to know at the moment.

Bahaumut. Where was he?

Mother grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the house. Outside, the sounds of battle became louder, and I saw that our house was not the only one on fire. I could see smoke raising into the night sky, and the night was illuminated by the flames.

“Mother, where’s Bahaumut?”

“I don’t know,” Mother said. “I pray that he’s safe.

Bahaumut wasn’t back yet. I felt worry strike through my gut like a dagger. I looked around for any information about the current situation. To my right, a Sorcerite was fighting a pair of armored demons. They were not of the same breed as us. They were too far away and it was too dark for me to make out the details. But they both stood a foot taller than the Sorcerite.

It had happened. Demons had attacked the village. We had always believed that they would never come. Our village was too small for them to take notice of us. But we were wrong, and now we were paying for being so naïve. That dagger of worry that was in my gut suddenly twisted. In order to get to the village, the demons had to have come through the same forest Bahaumut was supposedly at. Had the found him? Was that why he was not home? No, they couldn’t have killed him. Bahaumut would not go down so easily. He knew enough magic to make a good escape.

The two demons overpower the Sorcerite and struck him down. My mother pulled my arm and pulled me to away from the scene, away from the sight of the two demons. But another demon, smaller than the others, turned the corner and blocked our path. I look to the right. The two demons notice us and headed towards us. We were trapped.

The demon in front of us had a spear and charged at us. Mother pushed me aside and drew her daggers. With speed I only caught glimpses of she drew her daggers and ran towards the demon. It thrust its spear at her. She parried and with one quick motion, cut the demon’s throat from ear to ear.

The other two attacked her at the same time. With incredible grace she dodged their attacks. Their blades skimmed inches from her, but not a single blow connected. When an opening presented itself, she slid between the two and slashed with amazing speed at the openings in their armor, slicing through muscle and tendons. No longer able to manipulate their limbs, the two collapse to the ground.

I heard a faint sound, and it took me a moment to realize it was the sound of a bowstring. I looked to the house across from us and saw an archer on the roof, arrow ready. “Mom!”

The archer fires, but Mother cut the arrow in two with her dagger. She raised her hand to the archer as if she was trying to grab him. Fire from the next house over suddenly changed its course, turned completely horizontal, and engulfed the archer in its rage. Wild magic. I never knew Mother knew wild magic.

I looked at her. There was a splotch of blood on her cheek. I was sure it wasn’t hers. Her eyes had a blaze in them that made the inferno around us look like nothing more than a campfire. The gentle housewife that I knew as my mother was gone. Mother had turned into a totally different person; a strong, determined, and very frightening person. What did she do before she became a mother?

Mother turned and grabbed my hand. The flames in her eyes had died down a bit. “Let’s go, honey. We have to get to the Temple. We’ll be safe there.”

I knew that the Temple would be safe, but I was pretty sure I was just as safe with her around. I let her guide me through the streets. Every time we came across a fight, we went the other way. All around us, small battles were raging. It seemed like every Sorcerite in the village were fighting. Just how big was the demon force that was attacking us.

We were close to the Temple. Soon, it was within sight. But it wasn’t over.

Mother stopped abruptly and I almost fell over from trying to stop with her. She seemed transfixed on something ahead. I followed her gaze and found Father locked in combat with a demon. This one was different from the others. He was no normal demon that was sure. I could sense pure evil radiating from him, and I never saw someone with so much skill with a sword. Could he be the leader of this attack?

“Father!” The words ran from my tongue before I could stop them.

Father’s attention shifted over from the fight to me. It was a fatal mistake. The demon took advantage of my distraction and slashed his back, severing his spine. Blood streamed from the gash, cascading into the air and staining the grass. My father went rigid, and collapsed to the ground.

“WALKER!!!!!!” Fiona screamed. She let go of my hand and rushed forward with amazing speed, spinning the daggers in the hands. She lunged at the demon and attacked viciously. The demon blocked every blow, defending against both blades with his single sword. With his free hand, the demon shot a black stream of magic through her chest. My mother flew back a few feet towards me and hit the ground. She did not get back up. The image engraved itself into my memory. The demon turned away from my mother’s body, and began casting magic at other warriors. He took no notice of me.

I walked up to my mother’s body. Her eyes were still open. I closed them gently. I wanted to say something, but words did not form. Tears blinded me. I grabbed the belt that held the sheaths and the daggers. I put it over my shoulder and gripped the daggers tightly.

“Don’t turn your back on me!” I screamed at the demon and rushed forward. Any other time, I would recognize that there was no way I could take on the demon and live. But I was blinded with rage, and I felt that it was the right thing to do. It was what needed to be done.

The demon sensed my attack. He quickly sidestepped and knocked me away with the flat of his blood red long-sword. I struck the ground hard. I picked myself up, and made another blind attempt to strike the demon. The demon laughed, a haunting sound that sounded like the mumbles of a thousand damned souls. It just pissed me off more. How dare he laugh.

“Foolish whelp.”

A smoky silver bolt of magic erupted from the demon’s hand. There was no chance to dodge it, and it struck me in the chest. Pain wracked my body and my veins felt like they were on fire. The world faded into white.

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