Wings of Destruction and Duty

10 || Aurnia

Fire had never been one of  Aurnia's greatest strengths. It burned too bright and its unpredictable nature never suited her temperament. Yet when faced with certain death in a room full of curses, it was all she could think of.

Instinctively she delved into the depths of her power to throw up a wall of flickering flame but the Sinyo's trembling paws quickly changed her mind. Aurnia glanced around the room, scanning for anywhere to hide or at least stash the Sinyo. But there were none and Arunia did not fancy wedging herself between the other statues in the walls. There were certain evils she never wanted to touch.

Then her head whipped up to face the bear as it dipped its paws into the glistening liquid with an ominous crackle. She was horrified to see the fluid convulse and leap out onto the ground with soundless splash.

It twitched on the ground and shuddered almost unwillingly. Then it rose as a stunted creature with limbs far too long for its shriveled torso. They drooped awkwardly onto the ground but Aurnia instantly knew to keep away from the long dark nails. At first the creature lurched forwards, it's uncertain gait was not unlike that of a toddler's but Aurnia flinched when she caught sight of its sagging eyes.

They were empty, with one battered eyeball and an empty socket dripping silver fluid. There was a moment of peace as it tilted its head and let out a tiny wail. Then it bared its teeth and let out an ear splitting shriek.

Or at least it tried to.

Strings of melted metal held the sides of its mouth together and the creature briefly struggled to unhinge its entire jaw. Then it gave up and flicked its broken tongue in her face.

Then it leapt and slammed its entire body into her chest. She tried to catch her balance but fell onto the ground with a grunt. It felt like a sack of bricks had descended on her chest and Aurnia wheezed as it swung its claws dangerously close to her face. Desperately she battered it away with a flurry of ice and it hissed before jumping off her. There was a squeal as the Sinyo leapt off the ground behind her and raced to hide underneath the table.

Aurnia tried to shout a word of warning about the bear but then she screamed as the silver creature latched onto her arm. She cursed herself for getting distracted and though the creature's teeth were small, Aurnia felt like her arm was both burning and crawling.

She found herself staring into its cold dead eyes and desperately tried to keep her hands away from the dripping eye socket. Whatever about curses and ancient evils, eye goop was disgusting. As she writhed on the ground she decided that kicking at its face would at least buy her some time.

Then Aurnia noticed a dent in its chest, so slight that it was easy to miss. So she rammed her entire fist into it. Yowling, it skittered away as she sent splinters of ice shooting across its leg and across its back.

Aurnia took advantage of the creature's distraction to slowly pull herself onto her feet. She watched as the delicate blue-white strands fizzled for a moment before the creature's skin rippled to smother the flimsy ice.

She cradled her arm and whimpered as a mottled purple patch began to spread across her arm, it would advance before retreating back towards the puncture wounds in her skin.

The creature wobbled on its scrawny bone like feet and let out an odd gurgle. The bear statue creaked once again as more armor melted off the surrounding statues. Aurnia heard the distance sound of muffled laughter bouncing off the walls and she swore as the creature began to grow in size. Mismatched limbs sprung up along the surface of its skin. Twisted arms grasped at her face as it wailed and crawled towards her.

The look of terror on her face triggered more childlike laughter around her. What on earth was going on? The air thickened and closed in around her. Invisible hands pulled her air and pinched her nose, and the thick smell of decay rolling off the ground made her gag. She summoned a tiny dagger to stick into the twitching creature but a flailing arm knocked it out of its hands. It chortled and gave a bubbly laugh.