“What if you just ask your mom about everything? She has to know if you’re more than human.” Viri glanced over at Alyson and sighed. “Trust me, I've thought about it, but if she hasn’t hinted at some life-changing secret in all these years, I don’t think she’ll do so just because I ask. I don’t even know what I'd ask her, because I don’t know what the hell is going on. So, I'm sticking with this plan for now.”
Alyson bit her lip like she was stopping herself from saying something. Viri raised an eyebrow at her, and Alyson shook her head. “It’s nothing. I’m just worried for you.” Viri reached over and grabbed Alyson’s hand. “I don’t need you to worry. That’s what I have my mother for. I just need you to have my back.” Alyson squeezed her hand. “Always.” They walked in silence mostly for the rest of the day. Alyson occasionally played songs that were saved on her phone until the battery finally died and they took a few breaks to rest quickly. They decided to make their campsite for the evening. They unpacked their bedrolls and Alyson unpacked a dinner of bread, eggs, and jerky. “Years ago, I thought I could do these trips nonstop, but now I’m too old to be squatting outside instead of in a bathroom.” Alyson popped her head up at Viri’s comment and howled with laughter. Viri grimaced. “I mean it. I’m just thankful we remembered tissue.” Alyson laughed even harder. “I’m sure our wild ancestors would be proud of us.” Viri held up her canteen. “Cheers to making them proud.” Alyson clinked her canteen against Viri’s.
“Shit.” Viri felt the sharp sting on her thumb as she realized the top of her canteen had a metal shard that had come loose. Blood began oozing out and she pressed down on it to prevent more from coming out. She and Alyson immediately realized that they forgot to pack first-aid kits. “That’s okay. I hear a stream nearby. I can at least go rinse it there and make sure there’s no metal stuck in it.” She walked towards the sound of the water and squatted down to place her hands in the stream. As she leaned forward to massage her finger under water, she saw a pair of serpent-like eyes staring back at her while a hissing voice whispered, “Child of fire.” She fell backward as the bearer of that voice rose out of the water and crawled towards her. The creature was a massive figure with black, glittering scales and long dark talons that instantly reminded her of the golden ones she’d seen on her hand. He began crawling towards her and as she tried to get up and run, his massive tail caught her instantly and began wrapping itself around her neck. She struggled to pry it off as he slammed her into a tree and stalked towards her. The slam was hard enough that it knocked the breath out of her. “Pity, I was hoping to blow off some steam after a terrible meeting earlier and I expected more of a challenge from you. You have wasted your miserable youth if this is the best you have to offer me.” He released her and she fell to the ground coughing. “Who are you?” Each word felt like hellfire as she struggled to catch her breath. His answering smile sent chills down her spine. “I suppose you may know my title since I am the last face you’ll see in this life. I am the messenger, child of fire. I would say that I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, but as you know, I’m a little disappointed in you.” She saw him bracing to hit her again and tried to get up, but she was too winded and slow. She braced for the impact instead, but Alyson made it over in time to jump in front of her to take the hit. She screamed as Alyson jumped back up to shake herself off and run towards the creature.
He lunged out of the way, but Alyson managed to slice his left shoulder with her horn. He looked down at the gash and back up at Alyson. Enraged, he aimed for Alyson with his tail again and it was too fast for her to move out of the way. The impact threw her into a boulder on the other side of the stream. She tried to stand but fell as soon as she attempted to put pressure on her front left leg. Viri saw the exhaustion in her eyes as she shifted her human form and stood with her left arm limp by her side. The messenger stalked toward Alyson, and she looked hopelessly at Viri and mouthed for her to run.
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Her eyes reminded Viri of the young girl in her dream being bullied by the fae and before she could think any further, she held her hand up exactly as she’d done in the dream and shot a wall of fire from them that blocked Alyson off from the messenger and burned his tail in the process. She stared at her hands in shock for a split second, but she didn’t have much more time to think about it as the messenger turned towards her. “I was beginning to wonder if you were really the one.” He strolled over to Viri, and she sent another bolt of flame, aiming for his chest. He dodged the hit and sent his tail aiming for her head, instead. She blocked it with her arm, and he screamed loud enough to make her look to see what had happened. She looked at her raised arm and realized it was covered in the vermillion feathers and flames that she saw in the fire. She looked around quickly and saw that the flames surrounding her arm had seared off the end of the creature’s tail as it wiggled beside her foot. She looked up in time to see him dive into the water and swim out of sight before she could make it to the river to go after him.
The sound of Alyson’s whimper drew her attention away from the thing swimming beneath them, hopefully, miles away by now. She swam to the other side of the stream towards Alyson and ran up to assess her arm. Alyson grunted at the pressure but didn’t stop her. Viri realized her shoulder was out of place and looked up at her. Alyson stared back at her for a second, took a deep breath, and rasped, “Just do it.” Viri took a deep breath as well to settle herself and then quickly set Alyson’s shoulder back in place the way her mother taught her to. Alyson's scream echoed in the darkness, and Viri quickly untied her wet jacket from around her waist to tie it into a makeshift sling around Alyson’s arm. “Come on Aly, we need to go get some rest.” She helped Alyson stand and walked her over to the edge of the water. “Wrap your good arm around me.” Alyson whimpered but did as she was told and Viri swam them both back to the other side of the stream.
They walked back to the campsite quietly and Viri sat Alyson on her bed roll. She made a quick fire to dry them off and sat down on her bedroll as exhaustion hit her. She heard Alyson begin to sob quietly and looked up at her as she wiped her eyes and asked, “So that day was real?” Viri looked at her warily as Alyson told her about the day that she saved her from the fae and offered her friendship. The next day, Alyson tried to ask Gwinera if she could thank Viri for saving her and asked what sort of magical being she was and Gwinera shut it down immediately. She told Alyson that she’d imagined the magic after being hit on the head so hard by one of the rocks thrown by the other children and Viri never seemed to show any kernel of magic again, so she just accepted that Gwinera was right, and she’d imagined the whole thing.
“I dreamt about it the other night.” Viri twirled the end of her braid around her fingers as she spoke. “I didn’t realize it was a memory until I saw you ask me to run earlier. You looked as sad as you did that day, and once I realized that you were the young girl being bullied, I also realized that I was the one that saved you. I knew I could do it now because I did it then, but I don’t know if it’s something I can control.” Alyson patted her bed roll for Viri to get up and sit beside her. “I’d come over to you but having one working arm would make that a fifteen-minute trip.” Viri chuckled as she walked over to sit beside her and laid her head on Aly’s shoulder. “How are you feeling?” Alyson asked as she laid her head on top of Viri’s. “I don’t know Als. I’m processing. I know this is just the beginning and there’s so much more I have to learn about myself. The fire. The feathers. The talons. The secrets. It’s a lot.” Viri sighed.
“Well, you’d never know you’re reeling on the inside. You always look so calm and collected through everything. I’m beginning to wonder if your mother taught you to keep calm under pressure so that you wouldn’t mistakenly resort to magic while growing up.” Viri sighed again. “I’m beginning to wonder the same thing.” Alyson turned and kissed Viri’s forehead. “Let’s get some sleep. You started this trip to get some answers and we’ll get them. Even with me in a leather jacket posing as an arm sling and both of us possibly catching colds from being wet.” Viri laughed and got up to walk back over to her bedroll.