Third day after turning into human.

“Lights, camera, action! It’s lit boys.”

Chapter 7: The dance of the wind

“Mom?”

My mouth went dry. I blinked several times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Surely someone would be laughing at my priceless face and tell me it was just a joke. I grabbed on the spot where my heart is located. It hurts as if someone had shot a bullet through my chest. As I stared at the woman in front of me, all the emotions crashed down at me. I realized what it was. It was guilt…and sorrow. The feeling when you left behind someone important and you thought you will never see that person again. I just kept staring at that face. Her long hair that was once black was now a bright auburn color. The familiar gentleness in her eyes always nagging me to eat my meal was replaced by a cruel, sickening look.

“Mom.” I uttered again, unsure of myself this time. I fought hard against the overwhelming feeling arising from my throat. A stream of water rained down my cheeks. I touched my face and realized I was crying. She looked younger and more energetic than I remembered her to be. I never expected myself to be a crybaby, but I really missed her. I missed my mother.

“6’ o clock, enemy approaching!” My brief moment of confusion was shattered into awareness. Glancing around, I realized something. We were completely surrounded by the Black Cult. The temporary barrier that was shielding us was shattering at every incoming attacks.

Fire and rain blasted in our way, the road became unsteady as it was burnt into a hot, wobbly ground. As the knights activated their spells, a blinding light busted from the circle. My sight was blinded for a moment. Eloiya shook my shoulder and mouthed for me to move. Unsurprisingly, she was concentrated at what was happening and was in more control of the situation than me.  She grabbed my hand and ran towards the red leaf. I could feel the leaf boomed to life as it carried us through the forest.

I didn’t want to leave. Mom was back there. She was still surrounded by the Black Cult. Screams and shouts were thrown at every angle. It was wrong to worry more about the woman who looked similar to my mother than the knights who were fighting for our escape.  

“Don’t let them run off! Catch them!”

“They’re here!” I flinched at those words. The voice was shouting so close to my ears. With the dangers around us, staying put might have been the best thing to do, but I was exposing everyone to danger by doing nothing. Footsteps came close to my side.

“Kill them!” My breath huffed.  The voice was close, so dangerously close.

There were shadows around us. It was hard to make out their faces.  I closed my eyes and shielded them with my hands. There were movements on in front of me. I only prayed the knights have made it on the leaf, and not the black cult people. A few words were exchanged, and then silence. I crouched in my position where my hands gripped on the edge of the leaf, half afraid I would fall off, half afraid I would need to jump off if there were hostile movements on the leaf.

The familiar breeze of the wind comforted me throughout the ride. I didn’t mutter a single word to anyone. Just staying silent, thinking to myself.

Eloiya came to my side and frowned, “Hey, are you alright?”

I opened my mouth but no word came out. It took every ounce of self-control to not grab her shoulder and scream at her. Why is the black cult leader my mother? Why did she not recognize me? Why she is doing all these…these horrendous experiments? Instead, I just nodded and managed a forced reply, “I’m fine.”

Her look told me she didn’t believe me. She opened her mouth and a moment later, she shook her head and closed it. Deciding it would be better to leave me alone. So, she simply nodded at me and didn’t question any further.

“We will pass the border in a few minutes,” stated Lord Sainde. “Do not let your guard down. Alan, you too.”

I looked at the knights who were assigned to different positions. Their eyes were all sharp and focused. They were alert at the slightest movement of our surrounding. It was not the time to feel stupefied by the ambush. Our safety came first and we were not out of the danger zone yet.

Eten threw me a small knife, “This is the best I can give you.” I grimaced at the cold metal. For a person who rarely step in the kitchen, much less using a knife to kill, everything felt unreal. “Use it to protect yourself.”

The knights can handle themselves if they were against a small group of enemies. But, it didn’t make me feel any better to use them as a shield. Especially in front of Eloiya.

My eyes met Eloiya’s, there was fire in them. She had the will to protect the people who mattered to her. And that wasn’t just it, she would sacrifice more to protect the life of a stranger. Mine.

A loud screech sounded behind us had our heads turning.The shadow of the dragon emerged from the sky chasing on our tail followed by a crazed laughter. Its pace was catching up to us every passing second.

“Eten, faster!” Eloiya shouted at Eten, her voice trembling. You could see the panicking face on her face.

Eten responded, “I can’t! This is the fastest the leaf can go. We can’t outrun a dragon!”

“Hold on!”

No matter how fast a red leaf can run, the dragon is the predator of the sky. There must be another way to escape from this. I looked at my hand. It was easy to fire a rocket if I concentrated mana on my finger. I shook my head. The incident with Blogge was a warning not to use mana recklessly. While my spirit would be perfectly fine, this body was as frail as glass. It would do worse than a punching bag.

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“Hold on, keep the leaf steady!” Eloiya repeated. She stood at the tail of the leaf. With one arm, she took out a quiver of arrows and attached it on her bow in a swift motion. Her body shifted at the direction of the dragon as she stood there, eyes locked onto her target from afar. Elegant and mighty. Yeah, she’s a badass. Mana began circling at the sharp point of the arrow. Preparing to fire itself at any enemy who stood in its way.

The moment Eloiya released her finger, the arrow flung itself into the air. The large drawback pushed Eloiya to the opposite end. When I saw this, I sprang to my feet and caught Eloiya in my arms. The arrow disappeared into a distance and moment later, an explosion occurred in the air. There were sound of dragons roaring in pain as they were hit by the explosion. Few fell from the air as they took full impact form the explosion.

The auburn-haired woman twisted in anger that had my blood turned cold. “I’m coming for you, sweetheart.” She licked her lips and glared at Eloiya. Her dragon retracted its wings and threw itself in our direction with a speed of the lightning. The other knight came forward, combining their magic chants and summoned a barrier covering their frontline.

“Spirit of Arcturus, protect us. Grant us your shie—”

“Tear them apart!” screamed the woman. In all this bloodshed, all of us, were kicked to action in an instinct to defend and protect one another.

The chants were interrupted by a deafening roar of the dragon. It was easily stopping our actions as we put our hands over our ears to block off the sound. It was painstaking like blood could flow out from our ears at any moment. Taking advantage at our disability, the dragon swooped down with its claws stretched out. There was an earsplitting ring in my head and distorted my vision. I shook my head to recover from the dizziness. My leg crossed over one another and I staggered in my balance. Toppling on top of Eloiya while at it. As I was about kick myself back on feet, the feeling of sharp claws grabbing onto my side interrupted me from doing so. I hit the air, noticing I was taken from the leaf. My face paled and I yelled, the feeling of my own body being lifted in the air was horrifying.

“Who are you?” the woman with my mother’s face raged at the dragon. She fumed in anger when she realized she had the wrong target. “I want the girl, idiot!”

“Alan!” Eloiya’s shouted from below. She was getting smaller in size as the dragon flew farther away. “Hang on, we’re coming for you!”

The dragon who was holding me flew over the forest. The other dragons took this distraction to attack the knights. Fireballs flew past the dragons as the knights engaged in a magic battle with the Black Cult. Magic attacks were exchanged in a rapid manner. Soon, it could no longer be extinguished between friends and foe. As the attack damaged the leaf one by one, the red leaf got torn and fell on the ground. Unable to go further. Holes could be seen penetrating the surface of the leaf beyond repair. Thick fumes lighted in the air, completely obscuring my view on them. I was on my own.

The dragon brought me higher and higher into sky. The air pressure was choking me slowly. As I stare at the height, I gulped in fear. No longer worried about the knights, but my own life.  If the dragon flew any higher and drop me, I would fall to death. That was probably what they wanted. The woman wouldn’t spare innocent lives. I shook my head and told myself. This person isn’t my mother. It’s impossible for my mother to be here. She is at the other side of the universe, living a life without anyone at her side. Not her husband, not his son.

“Let go of me!” I tried to wiggle out of its grasp, but it got hold of me tighter. It was getting harder to breathe. The image of Eloiya came into my mind, I would fight for myself as hard as I could.

When the woman was paying attention at the other knights, I took out the small knife that was latched on my belt. It was hard to not move around my body and crawl the knife through the dragon’s claw. As the knife came off from my belt, I hold it backward. The sharp end pointed at the dragon’s feet. With every ounce of my energy, I pushed the knife into the flesh of the dragon.

The dragon didn’t react to my attack as much as I thought. Still, better than I hoped for. Its skin was as tough as diamond. But the minor scratch on its lower part was enough to tick a reaction to release its hold on me. The dragon’s hold became loose on me out of shock.

The dragon roared as I snuggle in its claw. With both arms, I opened a gap enough for me to jump off from its hold. With the only thought of escaping, I squeezed my eyes close. Then I noticed something. My stomach twisted. I was falling.

It was unlike any action movies I have watched. The horizon was pink and purple. It felt worse than when I was flying in the air. The momentary shock took over me as I squeezed my eyes shut. Down I go. Into the center of the forest.

“Alan!” I heard someone screamed my name. But, I couldn’t be sure. The air pressure slapped my face hard. The force of the wind blew away any sound that the wind carried. I couldn’t not open my eyes to see where I am falling to. One thing for sure, I’m in a danger of falling to death if I don’t do anything quick.

“Eloiya!” The wind forced itself into my mouth, I could barely make out any words. My heart tightened as I fell. As if it was fighting to leave my body. I screamed until my breath has become dry, “Help!” There was a dreadful feeling that I was going to die.

Do you know how people always said their life flashed before them when they were going to die? That was what happened to me. How ironic. I thought about the life I left behind once. There was nothing I believe was important to me and the flashback never happen before I died. And, just when I thought everything was going well with this life, I had to die again like this. It was like life is making fun of me.

I thought about Eloiya. How her smile can make my day. She was the first person I had a crush on. And, the first person I thought I could connect with ever since I came to this world. And there was the woman who looked like my mother. As crazy as she might be, I could still see the resemblance with my mother I used to know when my father was still alive.  She would be crazy about every little thing. Yelling when the men in her house refused to flush the toilet after peeing. Or start roaring like a spitfire when the cloth hanger was left on the floor. And now, there was nothing I could do to see her again. The black cult, the auburn-hair woman, everything still seemed unreal.

A sudden realization came upon me. My tears couldn’t stop flowing out. I was afraid to die. Afraid to face death again.

“I don’t want to die, not like this.” There was a way to escape from this. It was worth gambling my life for.

I struggled to rotate my body in the air until I was sure my body was facing the ground. Mana began accumulating on my fingers. The familiar feeling of magic creation resounded within my spirit. The mana flecks danced in the air, like they had returned home.

“If mana is mine to control, if…this could get me out of this situation, then help me!” I screamed at my own thought.

A big magic circle glowed on top of the trees. When the circle finished its diagram, a powerful force of wind encircled my body slowing down the pressure I was feeling a while ago. I could feel my fall began to decelerate as I slowly float down back to the ground. My legs stretched out and my shoes tipped the surface of the ground. My heart was beating to no end. 

I was safe. I rejoiced. A bead of sweat trickled down my face.

And the drawback began. It didn’t occur to me that my spirit would still live even if the body died. It was the blood-curling scream that echoed throughout the forest. Every being present shuddered at the cry. It was so painful they could feel it resounding down to their bone. I was terrified at the painstaking scream myself. Worrying it could be the knight’s, or worse, Eloiya’s.

Until I realized the scream was mine.

“Rekall.”

Chapter 8 – I’m here