Story Prt. 9

A piercing shriek split the air, waking Marika from her nightmares, it seemed to her she awoke into a nightmare of different kind. Around the dorm she could hear people screaming, which she had thought was just part of the nightmare. But it was still going on, as was the screech coming in through the window. She looked out over the rows of small huts, each hut with walls of stone and roof of timber. All with backyards about the size of the houses again, most had pets of some kind running around chained or penned. She looked up beyond these from her three storeys up window, and saw the horror of the skies. The beast that was causing this insanity to occur around her.1

It was a gryphon but at the same time you could tell there was that about it which was no more gryphon than a Rannek was. There was a rider, which was pretty much how they came in this part of the world. Sight of a wild gryphon out this far generally heralded bad times to come. The rider was another beast in his own right. Raw wounds biting down on his face from above and below, framing his face in an evil grin of horrifically long teeth, coming to points above his eyes and down the sides of his head, coming down to meet the scar-teeth from his neck and throat.2

She screamed out her horror, filling her room with a resounding echo that hurt her ears. The beast looked over at her, he made a motion with his hand, at which the gryphon ceased it's hovering and glided down to her window, only to begin hovering again.3

"Iss there a problemmm, child?" The hideous man beast asked her from atop his hideous mount. Where once the coat of this majestic beast could have been described as golden yellow, now the only description it could be given was rusty brown, from caked on blood, dirt, and general lack of care on the beasts part for preening itself. The rider now that she got a good look at him could be seen to be wearing a lions mane fur coat washed from golden brown to the gory black red of dried blood. At his waist was a braided eagle feather belt, Marika hoped it was oil that it was coated in to give it that shiny black luster, but she was pretty sure it was nothing that tame. His feet wore the most gruesome message of his being, eagle talon sheath boots, tipped with true gryphon talons, visibly dripping a viscous green substances, she was sure she didn't want to be knicked by.4

"----," Marika couldn't unwind her tangled throat enough to even say 'no', let alone scream like she wanted to. So she did what anyone in her position would do. She sprang backwards beside her bed, grabbed up her staff, and started tapping. She wasn't even concentrating on the patterns she was tapping on her staff nor did she at all recognize the sounds, or the voice, coming out of her right now. Of the string of words spewing from her she picked out two words: 'demuerte phobos.'5

Whatever the spell was it was potent. A glowing ball of light began emanating from her chest. Slowly engorging itself, it seemed to be sucking light out of her overnight candles. Indeed all the candles in her room had burst into light and were being dimmed the same way by this glowing, torso sized, ball of light. The last thing she saw before her head got envelopped was the two beasts being hurdled backwards from her window, writhing in agony, suspended there by sheer velocity, they weren't falling. Then everything went bright, then everything went dark.6

Marika woke up and she was in her bed. She looked around her, her staff was by her bed, her overnight candle was flickering silently in its low-hanging chandelier. Everything seemed fine. Marika twisted over herself to see her window on the wall opposite her door. Now she remembered that sickeningly frightening creature that had come to her window. Hearing her door open she laid down and feigned sleep.7

"Marika are you awake yet? It's been three days. Oh Hiros please let her wake," Apprentice Zashic said quietly as she closed the door to Marika's chamber slowly behind her. Stopping as the door made a faint squeak on its ancient hinges. With a subtle click it was closed.8

Marika sprang lithely out of bed, and promptly fell almost to her knees before she grasped the edge of her bed and steadied herself. She had forgotten her bodies three days without any excercise. It had left her a little weak. Clutching her staff to her shoulder she was able to get walking back under control fairly quickly. She still didn't know what happened after she was engulfed in light.9

She looked out the hallway and saw none of the Apprentices around so she shuffled on down the hallway to the stairs, and proceeded down them as quick as her recovering legs would take her. She rounded the last turn of the spiral staircase, and the school headmaster fell backwards on her bottom when Marika ran straight into her.10

"Well Marika, it seems you are doing a little better today, than days past. Were you on your way to the common rooms?" Headmaster Tordal inquired.11

"Yes Headmaster, I wanted to see if my friends were okay after the attack, and how it ended that night"12

"Marika you don't remember?"13

"All I really remember is a beast came to my window, and then light. An incredible ammount of intense bright light."14

"That is all there was really, but go ahead I will let you be with your friends, they can probably tell you more detail than these old eyes saw," though Marika knew that those old eyes were nothing to scoff at. They can read a note being passed in class even when she is looking at the board. Marika was sure they saw more than all the students put together. 15

“Marika! Marika, you’re up,” Helena called to her. “Are you alright Marika? They said you were alive and would recover but they never gave any more detail than that.”16

“You look like week old dead gnome Marika!” Joshua was his usual chipper self. “I mean, it’s great that you are okay Marika, though you should probably still be in bed recovering.”17

“Real smooth recovery Joshua,” Marika chided. “I am feeling fine now, I’m not sure how I look though.”18

“Allow me Marika,” Helena held up her hand. “Phobos Focii Vexia,” The palm of her hand shimmered and coallesced into a small reflective surface.19

Marika looked herself over for the first time since the attack. Her fiery red hair had two shocks of white stemming from her temples. Her pale face was freckled as always. Completing her inspection of herself she looked down at her body, all seemed to be in order, perhaps she had lost a little weight. ‘Three days sleep with no nourishment, Check’ she chuckled inwardly.20

“So what happened that night Marika?” Joshua intruded bluntly. “We saw the thing fly over to your window. Then it got blasted away by that light. Did a teacher come in and do some crazy stuff we haven’t learned yet?”21

“Yeah what did happen, all the students want to know, the teachers won’t tell us anything,” she concluded.22

“I dunno, I was so scared. I just let my mind defend itself and that came out of me. I think- I mean- maybe that was wild magic?” she pondered the thought of wild magic.23

She had heard that the wastelands to the north were caused by wild magic long long ago. The actual story was lost to the ages, but the outcome of that cataclysmic battle was obvious even to this day.24

“By Hiros Marika do you really think so?” Joshua had never really given much credence to wild magic but there was not much other explanation.25

“Well I don’t really know, but I have no clue what else it could have been. I couldn’t do it again right now even if I wanted to. Which I don’t, so don’t ask Joshua!”26