Esben's breathing quickened as he stared at HER. His body didn't want to move, feeling sluggish, but his mind screamed to. The most vile monster in the whole world was standing in front of him. He willed his body off the tree he was knocked into and instantly got into a fighting stance. His pupils narrowed, becoming almost cat-like as he focused solely at his enemy as if staring at prey.

The stormbringer stared at the boy with a weak smile before taking a step back. The moment she moved, however, Esben pounced like a blur towards her. The stormbringer's eyes widened as time seemed to slow down for her. She knew what she had to do. "PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" She screamed as she clasped her hands together and got on her knees.

Esben immediately froze in his tracks, almost falling face first into the ground as he did. He stared at the girl ludicrously. His expression was spinning like a wheel between confusion and suspicion. "Okay, just hear me out," Pleaded the Stormbringer before moving her arm. Esben tensed up with vigilance before the stormbringer pointed towards the storm. "I can't control that thing."

The young squire blinked. "What?" He asked in confusion. "What do you mean you can't control it?!"

"It's a curse," said the girl before suddenly taking a pause as she felt a chill down her spine. She looked behind her where the storm was approaching before turning back to Esben with panicked eyes. Before the boy could react, the Stormbringer pounced onto him and pinned him to the ground.

Esben panicked. "YOU-" He tried to scream angrily at the girl before light flashed before his eyes. A thick pillar of lightning shot towards them faster than his eye could follow. In the singular moment he could think before the lightning reached the two of them, he could only think of one thing. He was about to die.

The next moment, the lightning connected with the Stormbringer's back as she stood protectively over the boy. Lightning bounced off the girl's back, attacking everything around the two indiscriminately like a savage beast. Trees were incinerated and dirt became glass. Fires were quickly put out as a torrent of rain descended upon the area.

As water droplets fell onto his face, Esben stared at his protector with widened eyes. Somehow, she seemed unharmed unlike the destroyed terrain around them. "What...was that?" The boy asked with unstable breathing.

The stormbringer let out a cheeky, yet dry smile. "That," she said, mental exhaustion filling her voice as her wet hair brushed onto Esben's arm. "is why I'm the baddest girl in all of Flanterra." A thousand thoughts sped through the young squire's mind, leaving him frozen in a daze before the stormbringer knocked on his forehead as if knocking on a door. "It should be safe right now. That blast should've taken a lot out of that fart cloud."

The Stormbringer stood up before putting on her yellow raincoat's hood and got in a position to start running. Just as she was about to rush it, a voice broke through the chaos. "Esben!" Esben immediately recognized the voice and tensed up. It was his mother.

Idelle arrived like a comet of shadows ready to fight. Her eyes fell onto her son and she relaxed ever so slightly before she noticed the yellow raincoat wearing girl. "You."

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Esben and the stormbringer were both confused, yet for different reasons. "Do I know you?" Asked the Stormbringer raising a brow before Idelle silently took a fighting stance as a long curved blade made of shadows manifested in her hands. Esben's eyes widened before his shadow pooled beneath him instinctively.

"Mom! Stop! She's not bad!" The boy screamed out as the wind started to howl.

Idelle frowned, her eyes not leaving the stormbringer. "She's a stormbringer, Esben. She has to die." The boy's eyes widened before he sunk into his shadow, popping out a second later to push the stormbringer out of the way of a devastating slash that sliced through the glassified dirt like butter leaving a massive gash in the earth.

"RUN!" Screamed Esben before pushing the stormbringer into his shadow and following her in. Esben's shadow dashed across the ground as fast as it could before spitting the two kids out. "What the hell am I doing?!" He said as he and the girl ran for their lives.

The Stormbringer chuckled mirthfully. "Getting disowned, probably." She replied with a mischievous smile as the wind around them got stronger and stronger. Esben glared daggers at her before he heard a shockwave behind him.

"She's getting closer, isn't she?" He asked in a nervous voice. The dark grey haired girl nodded vigorously. "This is a mistake! She's gonna catch us."

"I have an idea." Replied the Stormbringer in a serious tone. "Do you trust me?"

"I don't even know your name!" Exclaimed Esben only for the girl to smile brightly.

"Kalla." She said before grabbing the boy's arm and hooking it to her own. She stopped in her tracks before looking up to the storm looming above them. "Alright, ya big fart cloud, I know you're seething up there. GIVE ME YOUR BEST SHOT!"

Esben sweatdropped upon hearing the worst idea ever had. The worst part, the sound of thunder intensifying and the wind howling as it became more wild indicated that it was working. But his mother was drawing near with her sword in hand. Idelle's eyes widened in recognition as she glanced at the storm. She reared her sword back, ready to unleash a powerful slash. Esben's heartbeats quickened. Which would hit first, the storm or Idelle?

Then, a hurricane descend from the sky upon the three as a savage slash left Idelle's sword heading towards Kalla. Blood splashed onto the air and a scream echoed as the hurricane consumed the three like a hungry beast.

xxxxxxXxxxxxx

Hours later, on a beach somewhere.

Two kids laid unmoving like corpses onto sandy beach floor. Kalla face first and Esben with his lower half deep under the sand. Aside from the sound of the tides and critters skittering about, the area was deathly silent...until the sound of coughing broke the ice.

Kalla pushed herself off the sand as she spit out a mouthful of sand. "Ugh, sand in my mouth." She said in disgust before a small red crab entered her line of sight. The Stormbringer gasped with eyes gleaming like stars at the sight of the crustacean. She quickly picked it up and rushed towards Esben. "Esben, look!" She exclaimed as she shook his body, forcing the poor boy awake.

"Huh? What did you say" Esben asked groggily, his eyes barely open.

"I found a crab!" Kalla exclaimed cheerfully as she held the crab towards Esben. "I'm keeping him! His name is Pinchers!" She said before Pinchers pinched Esben's nose with its claws. The boy immediately started screaming in pain, prompting Kalla to panic. "No! No! Bad Pinchers! No hurt friend!" She screamed as she pulled the crab away only causing more pain for the boy.

Eventually, the crab graced the boy with its sublime mercy and let go of Esben's now bleeding nose. "Ahh, that's gonna leave a mark." Muttered the boy dejectedly, causing Kalla to chuckle nervously as Pinchers rested calmly in her hands. She quickly placed the crab on her shoulder before extending her hand to the boy. Esben took her hand and with her help, was pulled out from the sand.

He quickly stood up before falling back down again this time onto his back. Esben blinked. He felt as if he lacked something. He turned to his companion only to find her staring at him with a horrified expression. Curious, worried and confused, he opened his mouth to ask what it was before he saw it. His left leg. It was gone, leaving only a short stump as proof of its previous existence.

The boy's breathing quickened as he descended into panic.. "Okay, calm down," Kalla said nervously, failing to hide her own panic. "I'm sure there's a way to fix this."

"This can't be happening," The practically panting boy clutched his hair as tears began to fall out of his eyes like twin waterfalls. A quiet sob escaped his throat. "It's not real. It's not real."

Kalla could only stare at Esben with shaking eyes. She lifted her hands into her line of sight and stared at her hands. Hands with claw like fingernails. Hands like a monster's.