Silas should have been surprised when, while he was busy helping Meldo, several hands grabbed him from behind and dragged him out of the square to a cell in the Town Hall barracks.But he was not surprised at all. In the end, he was in the human kingdom and his fellowship with the theater group had lasted too long. For humans, anything that was different had to be used or destroyed.

“What are you doing? Where are you taking him?” Alder had shouted as if he knew nothing of what was going on.

“Alder, stay out of this!” Gorwan replied in a harsh voice as he and Meldo along with other men took Silas away by force.

He and Olivia had been betrayed, although Silas wouldn't call that betrayal because he had never trusted them. He always knew that such risk existed if their travel companions ever got the slightest hint that they weren't like the rest. He had guessed it in Deema's eyes that night at camp after their children had turned up unconscious. He couldn't blame her. It was in a mother's nature to protect her children, and Silas had learned that in a tragic way.

After throwing him into the cell, Gorwan had asked the soldiers if he could say some last few words to him.

“I am sorry, I really am. Perhaps I am making a grave mistake, and if you are found innocent may the Nymph punish me severely,” with that said he just left.

At no time did anyone mention the word "chimera" so Silas deduced that the reason for being locked up there must be because of what Olivia had done.

Olivia...

“Where is she, Olivia?” he asked the soldiers who gave him an indifferent stare.

Silas tried his best to poke his head out of the bars.

“Olivia!” his shout echoed along a wide corridor that ended at a large wooden door that must have been the entrance.

No one answered. Silas didn't know if that was good or bad. If she had also been captured, she should be taken to the same place as he was, or so he thought... The very idea that she had been taken to another place with that disgusting wizard made his blood boil.

He needed to transform. In his first form he was utterly useless. He had to escape and find Olivia. Closing his eyes and clenching his fists, he tried to concentrate until the beating of his own heart became deafening as if his insides were going to explode at any moment.

Nothing happened. He even ripped the talisman from his neck and threw it with such rage that when it crashed against the wall it shattered into pieces and its tiny shards scattered all over the stone floor. Perhaps later he would regret having done it, but he could no longer stand pretending to be human. He didn't care if the wizards came and discovered him. He would die a chimera, even if it was only in words, because no matter how hard he kept trying, not a single hair on his body succeeded in changing shape.

Not even when he was a mouse had he felt so unprotected. He began beating on the cell's iron bars until he hit his head and a trickle of blood dripped down his cheek. One of the guards kicked him away, and Silas fell to the ground in pain.

“I'll kill you! I'll kill you all! You'll see! I'll bite your head off! I'll wipe out this town and everyone you know!”

In response, he heard the guards' laughter.

“Pathetic. I don't even know why we're watching him. It's pitiful,” said one of them.

“They say he's the suspect's partner. It's just a precaution.”

“Finally something happens in this pitiful town, but we get to watch a child. It's not even funny to kick him.”

“We can never have any fun. Wizards always save the best part for themselves.”

As they spoke, a commotion was heard outside.

“They must bring the suspect in. I heard that several wizards were getting ready in case she resisted.”

“Well, it looks like she's giving them quite a bit of trouble,” said the other, and they fell silent, listening to the shouts of men who seemed to be in the middle of a fight.

Silas, still lying on the floor, totally defeated, stopped his ears to listen if he could hear Olivia's voice among the ruckus outside.

“What a mess, don't you think?” said one of the soldiers.

“Maybe we should...” began to say the other, but was interrupted by a thunderous explosion that made the walls shake.

“What the fuck!”

The door of the barracks was thrown towards the soldiers who were knocked against a wall that collapsed on them along with a part of the ceiling that left them buried with their hands and feet sticking out like lifeless remains.

Silas had gone to take refuge at the back of the cell to avoid being hit by the stones, and when he peeked out again through the bars he found a huge hole where the entrance door used to be that revealed a huge patch of sky and the courtyard that was inside the Town Hall.

In the middle of the hole there was a female figure in a dress which looked dark because of the backlighting, though Silas recognized her at once.

“Olivia!” he exclaimed, but shut up suddenly when he realized that it couldn't be her.

He was right because, as the girl came striding closer, dodging the stones scattered along the corridor, he could see her shiny white eyes more clearly.

“Oh, no... fuck...” he had learned that word working with Meldo and from other men, and although it seemed ridiculous it applied to the situation.

The breeze from the outside was blowing in through the hole pushing the smell of smoke and the sound of terrified screams for help to put out the fire.

Already in front of his cell, the witch gripped the bars with both hands. A red glow emanated from them and the heat they gave off was so strong that the iron melted immediately. Out of instinct, Silas pulled back, partly to avoid being burned, but also because he didn't know the witch's true intentions. Had she come to rescue him or was she going to get rid of him so that Olivia could continue her journey alone?

The witch seemed to guess that silent question.

“Don't worry, I'm not like Clover,” she said in a deep voice. “I don't waste my time with useless games.”

“Who are you then?” Silas asked.

“Spark, and that's the only question I'll answer,” the witch turned around. “We must leave right now.”

Silas followed her as they both rushed towards the exit. Outside a large group of villagers, in addition to the soldiers and wizards, were helping to carry buckets of water to extinguish the fire that was spreading through much of the Town Hall. Seeing them trying to flee, a group of soldiers with swords in hand blocked their exit.

Olivia, or rather, Spark, raised both arms while a ball of fire took shape between her hands and was soon hurled at the men. Some flew backwards and others ran screaming trying to extinguish the fire that had caught their clothes.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

The smoke intensified and began to surround them like a fog. The next to try to stop them were other wizards of different levels who began to move their arms with precise movements launching shockwaves that flew against them but the witch managed to stop them with a simple movement as if she was just shooing away a fly. The wizards watched her livid with terror.

“Who are you?” asked an elderly Master with a long beard, advancing forward. “Why are you attacking our village?”

“We are not attacking, we are defending ourselves,” answered Spark. “I would not be here if it were not for you. Let us pass, and you will not be harmed.”

The old man was about to say something else, but first he stopped, pulled by something that seemed to catch his attention. He turned his eyes straight to Silas.

“I don't know what you are, girl, but in your case... boy... I sense a strange energy in you... and it's not human,” the wizard opened his eyes even wider. “It cannot be... A...”

Spark soon launched another igneous attack just like the one the soldiers had received. The wizards began to roll on the ground, screaming in pain and trying to extinguish the relentless fire from their long tunics.

The rest of the people in the courtyard abandoned what they were doing and fled for their lives without caring what happened to what was left of the Town Hall.

Silas wished he could have felt satisfied with the devastation that would soon spread through the rest of the human village, but as he watched the witch's mechanical movements, totally different from Olivia's clumsy but determined manner, he remembered how devastated she would be when she learned of all the damage she had caused.

“Here!” shouted the witch who ran in the direction of a stable where a horse still stood with its saddle on.

She was the first to get on and held out her hand for him to sit behind her. He had never been on any other animal before and that gave him a strange feeling.

Spark spurred the horse, which galloped off through the smoke that now covered the surroundings. They could not escape without going through the square so when the horse rushed into a large crowd that had gathered there, the witch raised an arm to make a whirlwind appear that caused the people to scatter in terror, and so they managed to advance without any more problems.

Even among the chaos, Silas was able to hear a scream lost in the crowd.

“Silas! Olivia!” he didn't know if it was both of them shouting at the same time or just one. He didn't manage to see anyone, but he could imagine Celestia's and Elyssa's confused faces, as well as perhaps Alder's, as they watched for the last time the two of them galloping away through the streets of the town.

A few moments later, after evading more soldiers trying to stop their escape, the horse crossed the entrance to the town and got lost on the road across the open field. Silas took a moment to turn his head and watch the column of smoke rising like a great tower above the houses of the village.

Sometime ago he had imagined that. The destruction of the human world.

But he didn't know why, he couldn't feel content.

The horse continued galloping at a steady pace for a while. At one point, the witch forced it to leave the road to avoid meeting other travelers. They continued like that for some time. Silas' legs ached from the uncomfortable position in which he was forced to travel, besides the fact that in order not to fall off the horse he didn't have any choice but to hold on tightly to Olivia's waist, like a frightened child clinging to his mother, and he couldn't help feeling weird even though the situation was extreme. Good thing she would never remember any of that.

Suddenly, when the sun was halfway down, Spark brought the horse to a halt in the middle of a vast plain.

“What's the matter?” Silas asked, looking around to see if there was someone nearby whom he had not noticed.

“It's your turn now,” Spark's voice had softened, as if she had lost strength. Her hands let go of the reins and hung from her body.

Silas didn't like the sound of that.

“My turn to what?” he asked.

She lowered her head and began to take a deep breath.

“To save us... No sirenians here... to help her this time... It will take her... long time... to wake up again.”

“How long...?” Silas stopped as he noticed she was starting to slip from the saddle and wrapped his arms around her to keep her from falling.

“The energy... this body... is running out... fast. If I continue... I'll kill her.”

“No, no!”

“You must...”

“I can't!” he exclaimed as he struggled to get off the horse without crashing to the ground while carrying her in his arms. “My power doesn't work! I'm not a wizard either! I cannot ride a horse!”

“Shhh...” she seemed to want to comfort him by placing a hand on his long hair and then pointed to a spot on the horizon following the direction of the sun. “Over there... the east... look... for... a place... safe... wait...” those were the witch's words before she dropped her hand and closed her eyes.

“No, no, Olivia, don't leave me alone! Don't be an idiot! I'm useless in this form! I cannot save you!”

Silas could not breathe. He stared frantically at the loneliness of the field around him until he turned his gaze to where she had pointed him. Panic held him stiff for a few moments as he hugged Olivia's unconscious body and it took him a while to realize he had his face buried in her hair. He inhaled deeply at the sweet scent that seemed to snap him out of his daze and with her body in his arms he suddenly sat up.

“I did tell you,” he said even though she couldn't hear him. “If you get caught, I'll escape and you'll have to fend for yourself.”

Fine, but if they catch you, I'll rescue you again.

She had told him that.

Silas managed to position Olivia's limp body on the horse so that she wouldn't fall off. He couldn't bring himself to ride without losing control of the animal, so he decided to at least hold the reins and continue on foot with her lying on the saddle.

“We are enemies,” he said as they slowly started moving.

We were enemies... a hundred years ago...

"Chimeras never joined the Covenant, so we're still at war."

What nonsense. I don't regret saving you. I'd do it again a hundred times over.

He gritted his teeth as if he wanted to powder them.

“Fuck, Olivia. I hate you, I hate you so, so much. You can't imagine how much.”

You don't owe me anything. You are free to leave whenever you want.

“Of course I am not free, you stupid half-human, stupid half-elf, stupid witch. You know very well I cannot leave. You know that, don't you?” for a moment he turned his eyes to the peaceful face of the girl whose delicate flower-like lips had curved as if behind them a smile was about to sprout. “Of course you know that.”

The evening breeze was getting cooler and cooler, announcing the imminent sunset. Silas felt uneasy that night was falling on them without having found any shelter and tried to hurry the horse's pace as much as he could. He had once thought of becoming one while living in hiding in the castle of Shadowrock, but had discarded it when he saw how they were used by humans. At that time perhaps it would have been useful to him, instead of depending on that unpredictable and reluctant animal that every now and then shook its head and his heart stopped thinking it was about to run away.

But those kinds of thoughts were of no use now because he couldn't transform anyway, and perhaps he would never be able to do so again in his life.

He shook his head. Now he had to focus on finding shelter.

He found it just as the last rays had died out, and the sky was painted a violet color that was getting darker and darker. There were some huge rocks between which a hole had formed large enough for two bodies to fit through, though quite squeezed together.

He tied the horse to a nearby tree, and took Olivia in his arms. Then he positioned himself with his back to the cave and crawled backwards with her body resting on his chest. Thus he lay inside the hole feeling the warmth of Olivia's body against his, and her soft breathing tickling his arms as he held her close so as not to let the cold of the night freeze them.

He didn't want to fall asleep. He had to stay alert all night. However, the exhaustion of that long day that had started in the worst way was taking its toll and soon his eyelids began to feel heavy until he lost track of time and his mind was swallowed by darkness.

When he woke up, still hugging the girl's body, he didn't know how much time had passed but he guessed it must have been late in the morning as the light pouring through the entrance of the hole was quite bright.

“Olivia? Can you hear me?” he shook her gently, trying to wake her up, but after several attempts he gave up. Her breathing at least seemed to be normal. She was just sleeping. Spark had told him it would took some time.

He laid her body on the ground and began to crawl out of the cave. He looked up at the sky. The sun was already quite high. They had to get moving again as soon as possible. Perhaps he would have to take a chance and ride. Someone might be following them.

Thinking this, he heard the rustling of something shuffling in the grasses. He looked in the direction of the horse still standing there, but the noise was coming from the opposite direction.Turning his eyes, his spirits fell when he found a man half-hidden behind a log staring at him with his eyes bright and voracious like a predator about to pounce on its prey.

The man moved slowly toward him as he began to speak.

“For days now I have been hearing rumors about a strange energy, but I couldn't keep track of it. As if it had suddenly disappeared. Then, yesterday, it resurfaced only to die out again in a few hours. I thought I had lost it again, but then... I felt your presence... and couldn't believe my luck.”

He spoke to Silas as if they knew each other, but he didn't look like anyone he met. He was a middle-aged man with very ordinary features, brown, messy hair, average height. He wore travel clothes of dull colors.

“Maybe this way you will remember me,” he said suddenly, and brought a hand to his neck to remove a talisman hanging from it.

The man's face took on a very different shape. His beard grew longer, and his hair whitened.

There it was. The wizard was not wearing his red tunic, but Silas remembered his face very well from that encounter in the tower of Shadowrock Castle.

“Listen now, chimera, I have nothing against you,” said Master Eldrin. “Just return my Lady to me, and I'll let you go in peace.”