Stained in red

Death

Death. It coiled like a serpent in the air. Death. A blade of magic ripping through flesh. Death. A release of the pain that this savage world brought.

Screaming stumbled the steady beat of Sembi's wings. The screeching making me flinch like I'd smashed a mirror. The dawn brought cover for us as we sailed above the thorns of war. The battle was horrific. It was one of the first times I'd seen it up close. The pain rattled through my chest, even being so far above.

Don't look down. Sembi commanded. Yet there was nowhere else to look. An uncanny amount of blood layered the honey sands that stained Yellow, Violet and black.

My heart skipped a beat.

Wisps of smoke flared up to my toes, like black flames. I moved it with my own. My fire was to obvious, we had to stay under cover, so I used my darkness to push the painful, blinding smoke away.

About a thousand black bloods fought. Protecting the centre of a huge island. Yellow bloods and Violet bloods pushing the lines thin, leaving a wake of emptiness behind them. Like feathers from a chicken, the Black Bloods were plucked from this world, into an abyss. Would anyone remember them?

Sembi, I have to stop this! Even if I couldn't, it was too much to bare. Where were the Gods? Where was anyone who can help?

I will protect you. Sembi repeated. What do you need me to do? I was so stunned, we flew in silence for a moment.

What?
No reply.

I looked down again. But I closed my eyes. I breathed in. I looked to myself. Kassa? My magic pulsed, squirming to the surface of the whole in which it stayed. Like it was a class of children waiting to be picked. I surveyed the mass of power I had. The depth was fuzzy but I had a rough estimate: there was a lot.

My wings fluttered. My darkness waited. My fire flickered. And within my blood, others pulsed.

Take us down. Sembi read my mind and floated behind clouds until the crunch of the sand cracked from under his hooves. We were hidden still, by the shrubbery that lay scattered along the island. The screaming had quieted.

"Sembi? Kassa? What are we doing?" Autumn said.

I took a breath of the cold, lifeless air.

"Why did you follow?" I demanded in the strongest tone I could, these days mustering energy was impossible. Sarkon stayed silent, but confusion fixed his features. He looked to me.

"Well..."

"I... I need to do something." I turned away. The pain relaxing, as if it knew what was going to happen next.

"Kassa." Sarkon said in his deep voice. The only thing he'd said for days. "Don't. You can't." I furrowed my brows, said nothing and shook his hand from my shoulder. Sembi waited with the other males as I strode off.

I listened to the cries of the battle.

My wings appeared on my back. I hoped learning to fly was an easy task, I mean I had done it before. One flap. Two. It worked a dream.

I let my magic fuel me.

Let us go...