Burn

Crisis Averted? Chapter 1

The sound of blood pulsing through the bodies of both creatures lured it closer. It had no higher concepts outside of its very real need to feed. It would scavenge whatever meat it could find. But a living breathing creature this far was a rare treat indeed, and one it did not intend to lose. 

A stick snapped and the eight-legged creature froze remaining suspended in its web, unsure if there was another hunter in the midst.

The girl had frozen in place, wary, her hand going to her belt. The giant black spider had walked Arda for a millennia. It could afford to wait a few moments more.

The scent was enticing, hardly a meal it could afford to pass up. Very few passed this way.

It wasn't quite close enough for a one-shot kill but somehow the two creatures were alerted to its presence thanks to the stick. The spider kept its legs splayed on the wall, completely invisible against its rocky ledge. It could see them through eight eyes. They would make a fine addition to its food storage.

The giant spider had many mouths to feed. Or would soon, hatchlings would be starving as soon as they escaped their eggs. They would seed Arda with more of their own kind. 

Another twig snapped, and she let out a quiet hiss of surprise. 

The dark elf was on her feet, eyes scanning the darkness. Her companion, a large white and gray hybrid wolf dog rose too, its hackles raised. This was not going how the spider wanted. She couldn't make her leap without knowing what manner of creature was in the forest. There were fouler things in the mountains than one giant spider.

The arachnid waited, eyes scanning the ground seeing nothing. She was still a beast and satisfied that there was no other creature outside of her intended prey. Raising her spinnerets slightly and readying them for a quick capture she bundled her legs for a leap.

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"Sitka," Red whispered.

The wolf-dog growled and came to her feet slowly. Red felt the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Trusting her instincts, she smelled a faint whiff of charred flesh and the iron smell of blood. She paused her hand going to the sword buckled at her hip, the other reaching for a dagger. She preferred the bow but this was already too close quarters and the bow would be useless here.

Something was obviously stalking them, making sure to stay out of the light. 

It left a plethora of creatures, none of them good. And still, it moved, somewhere behind their line of sight. A whisper in the breeze. It was enough for Red's heightened drow senses to know it was still there. 

"Show yourself," she whispered, her heart racing.

Sitka growled in response as she backed up putting them both back to back. It was a familiar stance they were used to fighting in. Fear coiled in her gut as she peered into the brush, eyes as capable as a wild cat. It wasn't the first creature to stalk her. 

And then Red felt it.

A slight swelling in her chest, brought on by her own apprehension right before a fight. A magic she could not control, a true mixed blessing. She knew what was coming, liquid fire raced through her veins of its own accord, seeking to devour whatever it may. It was never enough, and it always wanted more. And it always found a way out.

She kept her eyes on the forest and strugged to keep her fiery gift at bay. Elemental magic, a mix of both sides of her heritages drow and human.

A flicker of movement above her was all the warning she had as she was thrown to the ground, barely bringing her sword up in time to block the five-inch fangs arching downwards to her chest. Eight eyes bored into hers as the spider pinned her to the ground.  

The spider was the least of her worries.

"Sitka, go!" She commanded the wolf-dog. "Now!"

Sitka hesitated but turned and fled. She was too well trained not to. The fire would rage and Sitka knew the signs on her mistress. Satisfied that her companion was gone Red stopped trying to hold her elemental magic back.

This creature would burn. Perhaps at least this once, it was a blessing.

She closed her eyes as the heat traveled throughout her body. Flames shot out of her fingertips, her body began to burn. It didn't hurt, it never did, but her clothes never survived the inferno she became. She felt the spider try to reverse course, pull itself away from the burning creature that it had pinned to the forest floor. It roared in pain.

Red responded by reaching up and grabbing the left palp, finding herself hoisted along as the spider wailed, trying to shake her off.

It danced up, lifting 6 legs off the ground trying to dislodge her.

Red gripped furiously as the blessing/curse of her fire magic ran its course. Fire sprouted from her in a large furious ball, she could no longer see anything outside of the yellow flames that grew hotter until there was nothing but white filling her vision. And then she collapsed no longer able to stay unconscious with the weight of that much magic coursing through her body. It was a tide she could not control.

The fireball exploded outward catching the forest on fire. The spider happy to drop the burning creature and no longer the slightest bit hungry was incinerated in her tracks along with her nest. Whether Red knew it or not the great glorious prophesied spider invasion had been stopped in its tracks. The original prophets stopped turning in their graves and relaxed into their afterlives. Crisis averted.

The northern edge of the forest began to burn, and the town of Eretz began to ring its warning bells. One lone figure sprinted as fast as he could away into the night to stay one step ahead of the slowly rising sun.