Wizard of the Wood

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27

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Rylir gasped for air, huddling by Essie’s neck to shield himself. Noxious gas surrounded Essie’s face and filled her nose and mouth and, with him being there by her neck, it had invaded his body too. Instantly, bitter bile filled his throat and made him collapse and wretch. The taste of iron saturated his throat, making him gasp for air.

Flames threatened to consume both Essie and him as frigid wind threatened to give them frostbite. Rylir squinted through the terrible, noxious gas at the menacing faces of the five giants now towering over them.

This wasn’t happening.

This couldn’t be happening.

How could all five of them be so unfeeling toward another of their kind?

What was more alarming was that Essie was staring blankly at the sky far above. Her eyes were dulling. Blood began dripping out of her nose as she too was gasping for air.

He did this.

If Rylir hadn’t coaxed her, encouraged her to come down and fight for the defense of the town, then she would not be in pain now. She would not be suffering like this right now.

No.

He had to do something.

Anything.

“Essie,” coughed Rylir as he huddled closer to Essie’s neck just below her ear. His heart was racing, pounding out of her chest with the ferocity of an avalanche. His vision began clouding. Was he losing consciousness?

No…

Not now…

With the last of his strength, Rylir forced out the words as loud as he could manage.

“Fight! You have to fight! I… can’t… lose you…”

Essie felt a single tear trace the side of her cheek.

Rylir.

His words rang over and over in her mind.

I can’t lose you.

Suddenly, everything seemed to be brought into perspective.

By giving into the pain, by giving into the fear, she was losing Rylir. She was sacrificing him, her only friend, because she was afraid, stunned by memories of the past.

A realization hit her, and in an instant empowered her.

While those memories hurt and while they did happen, they were in the past.

They couldn’t hurt her. Those terrible, wicked memories could only hurt her if she allowed them to hurt her.

Time completely slowed around her. She closed her eyes and saw the cracking dam holding back the black waters of regrets and memories threatening to cascade over the edge and swallow her whole. She watched the veil teetering on the edge, ready to fall before her eyes, threatening to reveal the monstrosities looming behind it.

Essie slowed her breathing.

Essie let her body relax and she repeated the phrase in her mind over and over again.

They can’t hurt me.

They can’t hurt me.

This is who I was, and this is who I choose to be.

You will not take my friend from me.

You have no power over me.

Then, she felt it.

A spark. There was a crackling, energetic spark that had begun to grow in her forearms. It was then that she realized what triggered that power before, that crimson lightening she summoned before – protection. It was only when she thought about protecting Rylir that the energy first began before.

And, now, she would do it again.

Essie concentrated on that powerful, protective feeling swelling in her chest. Seizing that emotional charge, she felt the same crackling energy she felt before. Every nerve, every fiber, every part of her being vibrated with the electrical energy surging through her veins.

However, instead of being afraid of this new found power, she embraced it.

Essie’s eyes opened, flaring with crimson lightening licking at the edges of her eyes, as she concentrated on that protective instinct. She looked up into the faces of her five tormentors and watched the color drain from their faces. She looked up and saw fear, and they had good reason to be.

Rylir watched as Essie’s eyes flared with light, her pupils now entirely consumed by crimson light. It was all he could do to keep holding onto Essie as he watched everything unfold before him.

Essie opened her mouth and let out a howling scream, daring to strike fear into the hearts of her adversaries. As she screamed, crimson lightening ripped through her body and exploded out of her chest, engulfing her form. The bodies of the five instantly seized, snatched by the crimson lightening erupting out of Essie’s body.

In a moment, Essie’s scream wasn’t the only one that filled the air. The five, now collapsed on their knees and clutching their chests, were also screaming. As Essie’s voice calmed into ragged breathing, the five followed suit.

In one, agonizing blast, Essie had incapacitated all of them – and they knew it.

The five crouched before her in awe as Essie rotated her wrists and raised up into the air, suspended and held aloft by the beams of crimson lightening themselves.

The onslaught only continued as Essie proceeded to lay into them. Beams of arching electrical energy seized their bodies as she bound them together. Using the momentum of being in the air, Essie allowed herself to plummet down and crash into her enemies.

She darted around fist after fist, moving at an incredible speed, as she cracked one across the jaw and delivered a hard kick to another. This speed – this power – was something Essie had never experienced in her working memory. Every punch felt empowered, every move felt precise, as if she could not possibly miss.

Before they knew it, all five of them were on the ground, doubled over from the deliberate punch to the gut they received. The energy from the lightening wracked their bodies, making them twitch uneasily.

Still, Essie didn’t relent.

While the other four received their fair share of punishment, it was her original tormentor who she saved her true power for.

Daemia, who attempted to block Essie’s attacks with a simple shield, had no accounted for the conductivity of the frozen ground she was standing on. The water from the ice had melted, and Daemia was standing in a water basin puddle that had no escape. Essie held no remorse as she electrified the water and watched Daemia fall to her knees, seized with the current.

While Daemia thrashed in the water, Rylir could only watch in worry.

This wasn’t Essie. This was not like her.

This was revenge, and he knew this was not Essie’s way.

“Essie!” he shouted. “Essie! Stop! Don’t forget who you are. Don’t let them make you into a monster!”

Essie’s body shuddered. Something in her stirred.

Rylir was right.

As much as she wanted to keep going, give into the voice that dared her to continue, Essie knew her friend wouldn’t have intervened unless he were worried.

Taking a breath, Essie let her breath calm and allowed the dark veins of lightening subside. Boldly, she strode over to the five of them who were collapsed on the ground and snarled.

“Come near me and those whom I have chosen to protect, and I will not relent. Do you understand me?”

Without another word, Essie rotated her wrist and began muttering the same incantation for each person – the incantation of teleportation.

One by one, Essie sent each of them away to the first remote location that crossed her mind. She wouldn’t tell Rylir that she banished Daemia to the middle of the ocean. That could wait until another day. While it would only be a matter of time before each of them returned, one thing was made completely clear – Essie had faced her past and emerged victorious.