When I Grow Up

I remember the first time I used magic. I was ten years old and that day in school our teacher has asked us what we wanted to be when we grow up. It was career week at school, leading up to the last days before summer break. There had been a Take Your child to Work Day and a day when other kids moms and dads came into the class to tell us what they did. I didn’t get to participate in any of those things ,since I didn’t even know who my parents were. I lived with my guardian, Zeke, and he was too busy for that kind of stuff. I looked after myself a lot and Zeke couldn’t even help me with my project for the last day of school, What I Want to be When I Grow Up.

Because no one ever says “I want to be a sorcerer when I grow up.”

And with good reason. Sorcerers are cursed folk born with bad blood. Those high and mighty men who stand on the pulpit every Sunday are always spitting out some nonsense about how people are sinners from birth just because they’re human and that they need Jesus or they’re going to Hell even if they’re just babies or little kids. Now all that is a bunch of bullshit and don’t let no one tell you different. But for sorcerers it’s actually true. Being a sorcerer ain’t so much something you learn as it is something you’re born to. And you have to embrace it, or when Old Scratch comes calling there won’t be anyone around who can save you. It’s a curse and like a lot of bad things you get handed in life, you have to learn to deal with it and overcome.

I hadn’t been going to that school for very long and I didn’t have any friends. Most of the kids stayed away from me and I stayed away from them. But there was this one girl that I was sweet on named Rachel. She was different from the other girls because she was a true blue tomboy who’d rather spend her time running around on the playground playing baseball or basketball instead of gossiping with the girls. So it didn’t surprise me at all when she got up in front of the whole class and declared that she wanted to be a firefighter when she grew up.

A lot of the boys in class laughed at that and gave her a lot of lip about how being a firefighter was a boy’s job. I had noticed that Rachel had a hot temper when it came to people telling her she couldn’t do things because she as a girl. When recess came around that day, she showed those boys just how good a firefighter she could be by grabbing the water hose next to the building and letting that bunch of boys have it as they were walking back inside.

Rachel lived near where me and Zeke were staying at the time, so after school I decided to follow Rachel home and talk to her. I told her that I liked her and that I thought she’d be a great firefighter. I think she was a little put off by the strange, quiet kid that no one talked to suddenly coming up and telling her this but she smiled after I said it and said thanks. Now I wish I could tell you that then was the moment when Rachel and I first fell in love and were childhood sweethearts until we got married after high school and lived happily ever after. In fact, the only good thing that came out of that whole day was that both of us were still alive when we went to bed that night.

I mentioned the name Old Scratch before. In case you didn’t know, the reason sorcerers are cursed is because we all got a bit of His power inside of us. They got a lot of names for it but the long and the short of it is someone took some of Old Scratch’s power a long time ago and he’s been trying to get it back ever since. Every time he gets his hands on a sorcerer, he can take some of that power back. And every time a sorcerer has kids, that power  gets cut up into smaller parts. No matter how small that magical spark, a sorcerer can always get stronger but the more sorcerers there are the harder Old Scratch has to work to hunt us all down. And he don’t like that one bit. So he sends his Hellspawn to track us all down.

I met my first Hellspawn that day walking home with Rachel. They can smell us when we come into our power and they’re always on the hunt. Zeke had tried explaining it to me but I had never really understood the whole thing since I couldn’t use magic yet like Zeke could. So I never worried about it like I should have. Maybe if I had, that day wouldn’t have ended in such a mess. Kids are always scared of the dark, under the bed and in the closet, because they think that’s where all the monsters are hiding. Don’t buy into any of that nonsense. It was a beautiful spring day, with chirping birds and barking dogs, when that monster screamed and came flying at me from out of nowhere.

Zeke had explained to me about magic and had even showed some to me. He said that when I came into my power that he’d teach me more and he did. The one thing he wouldn’t show me, though, was Hellfire. He said it was the first magic every sorcerer learned how to use and it was the last magic we should use as well. Hellfire isn’t natural. It burns a sick, green color and it smells like sulfur and brimstone. That smell attracts the Hellspawn, so even if you kill one with it more will be coming. Hellfire was powerful and dangerous and sorcerers who used too much of it always ended up dead. Because I never knew when I’d come into my power, there was one lesson Zeke made sure that I knew above all others back then.

A handful of Hellfire goes a long way.

It came to me a lot easier than I would have imagined. All I had to do was think about it, point, and I blasted that monster off of Rachel and put it clean through a hundred year old oak tree. The Hellspawn didn’t get back up but unfortunately the tree fell on top of it and the Hellfire grabbed onto all that wood and spread faster than you could blink.

Hellfire in small doses isn’t much different than regular fire. Outside of the color and the smell, it just burns hotter and faster. But put enough of it together to burn down something big, like a tree the size of a house, and it’s a terrifying sight to see. The flames rise up high into the air and seem like they’re trying to suck away all the life around them. Beneath the crackling sound of flame consuming wood I could hear the moans of the damned and in those huge tongues of flame that reached into the air I could see souls trying to claw their way out, reaching for me like I’d taken everything good in their world and they wanted it back with a vengeance.

When you see something like that, something that was created by your own hand, it leaves you without a doubt in your mind that you are truly damned. It also doesn’t help when the girl you like looks at you like a monster, even after you saved her, and runs away crying and screaming for you to stay away from her.

I didn’t have time to chase after her and convince her I was actually a really decent guy once you got to know me. I heard the scream of another Hellspawn and realized that the one I’d killed wasn’t the only one tracking me. I ran home. Before it was all said and done, half the neighborhood was in flames from all the Hellfire I threw around. I don’t know if anyone got hurt. I was too busy running for my life. Zeke eventually found me and dealt with the last of the Hellspawn but we couldn’t stay after that. We left town that night and crossed the state line before midnight.

You learn to deal with the guilt of all the destruction you cause, the lives you’ve taken and the people you can’t save. It’s been a long, hard road since the day I became a sorcerer and the road heading forward looks even longer. But I still think about Rachel sometimes and I can’t help but wonder what my life would have been like if I had gotten the chance to grow up and be what I really wanted, like all the other kids in that class.

After all, the world could always use one more firefighter.

The Hunter's Hunted

Liara looked back over her shoulder as she ran. The sun was starting to disappear behind the mountain ridge to the west and she knew she didn't have much time. It was terror that drove her forward, forcing her to ignore the ache of her legs and the burning in her legs. If she stopped, if she even slowed down for a moment, she would die.

Silently she cursed Gregor even as she wept for him openly, hot tears coursing down her cheeks as grief and fear drove her on. He had convinced her to leave the protection of the town when it was so close to nightfall, intent on showing her a hidden grotto deep in the woods. She had known what he wanted and despite her objections, she had been willing to give it to him. Only woodsmen and soldiers from the church ventured that far into the wilderness on their own, but it was the opportunity for them to be alone together that had finally convinced her to go with him. She had left her father's shop early, telling him that she wanted to pick up some things from the market before it closed. She had felt guilty when he had so readily agreed but all of that had been forgotten when she met Gregor at east gate and had ridden out with him.

The grotto he had found was beautiful, filled with wild flowers and heavy tree branches hanging overhead. A small pool of water was fed by a stream that led deeper into the forest. It wasn't long after arriving that their arms were around each other, their hands roaming over each other as they began to undress. They were young and in love. Gregor hadn't asked to marry her yet but she felt like if she gave him this, he finally would.

All of that was gone now. Gregor was gone. They had ignored how far the sun had set in the west and they were so wrapped up in each other that they didn't realize the danger until the horse shrieked in terror. The creatures set upon it first, monsters with dark fur and snarling voices, moving so fast and with such violence that Liara hadn't realized what they were. The horse was torn apart by claw and fang, it's throat ripped upon, it's guts spilled out onto the ground as the werewolves feasted on it. Gregor had risen first, intent on stopping them. But he had no weapon in his hand and he was too late to realize the mistake he had made in drawing their attention. He screamed at her to run, grabbed a fallen branch and charged at them with a yell of fury.

The largest of the monsters towered over Gregor and leapt at him, hitting him hard enough to silence his battle cry and dragging him into the forest with a single bound. The others had followed after him and that was when she heard Gregor screaming in terror. She didn't know what they were doing to him but all she had to do was look at the butchered remains of the horse before she turned and fled the way they had come. Eventually, Gregor's screams were silenced, either because he was dead or because she was far enough away not to hear them. She didn't stop. Branches slapped her in the face as she fled, bramble bushes cut at her clothes and skin. She knew she was bleeding, that they would be able to smell her blood and find her. That was what the stories said. They were just like any animal, hunting by scent. But she couldn't stop and tend to her wounds. All she could do was run.

When she emerged from the forest she found herself on the main road that led back to town. The sun was nearly gone and the cover of nightfall was fast approaching. If she could make it to the town's gates she would be safe behind the wards and weapons that the town guard used to protect them. With nothing between her and home but open ground, she ran as fast as she could. The howling started soon after that.

It wasn't long before the town was within sight. The torches on the walls and at the city gates were a beacon of hope and she could hear the clear ringing of the church bell. They had heard the howling too! The soldiers would be coming, bearing the swords inlaid with holy silver and arrows tipped with the same. All she had to do was make it to the gates before the monsters got her.

The howl sounded again and she heard a snarl near her back. She risked a glance over her shoulder and had only a moment to widen her eyes in shock before the beast pounced upon her and crushed her to the ground. She screamed in terror, trying to push it away from her, but her strength was nothing compared to the beast. The shouts of soldiers coming out of the gate reached her ears before the beast wrapped a massive claw around her waist and dragged her into the woods. It moved with incredible speed and grace, passing through trees like a horse running on an open plain. Liara struggled to escape it's grasp, she screamed so the soldiers would know where she was. She prayed. She prayed to God to save her, to spare her, to forgive her for her sins with Gregor.

There was no one to answer her call. The beast ran on and on, out of sight and sound of the soldiers, until she couldn't even hear the hopeful ringing of the church bell. It carried her deeper into the dark, on into the night until her throat was too ragged to scream anymore and there was only sobs. Only when it came to a clearing in the wood did it throw her to the ground. She looked at the beast in terror as it descended upon her.

She found she had the strength for one last scream.

- - - - - - -

This is something I've had in my head for awhile. I'm having writer's block issues, so I'm going to try and knock out these little random ideas I have in my head in the hopes of clearing some space. Don't expect this to turn into a story or a series. It's just one scene I've been wanting to write. Enjoy!