The power within

Part 1

Her breathing increases as she pushes vines out of her way and rushes as fast as she can to the wall ahead. She can hear the creature's dense footsteps behind her, howling and screaming to the others in the surrounding Frostland around it. As she gets closer, she realizes she may not make it, and slips on the ice underneath her feet. Gasping as she hits the ground, she holds the soft bundle above her body, to keep it safe. She tries to get up, and registers that her leg is broken. Shit. She says to herself. The baby above her starts to cry and she thinks to herself that this is the end. "I'm here, please come." She begs to anyone that was listening, to the gods or the government. Anyone. The creature snarls as it steps beside her on the breakable ice. "Running got you here." It whispers sinisterly. A tear runs down her cheek as she holds the crying babe to her chest as closely as she can. It reaches down to grab the fur collar on her coat. She whimpers in fear as it lifts her the 7 feet up to its height. "All you humans are the same." It spits out. "Trying to outrun a fire that's much faster." It's eyes glow a fiery red, as if for emphasis at its vile words. The woman, in her final act of bravery, raises a hand to the view of the wall, or she hoped it would, and made a gesture with her fingers that was a beg for help. The demon squeezes her throat and she cries out, making the baby squirm next to her. The monster seems to just notice it's existence, as it looks down and smirks at it. Just as it does, a single torch light illuminates a section of the wall, and seconds later, the other lights flicker on consecutively. The woman laughs as tears of joy fall down her face. The demon, shrouded in the angelic fire, drops the woman, and growls angrily at the wall and the people that could be heard yelling on it. The woman looks at the creature from the safety of the deep light. "Who's running from a fire now you son of a bitch?" She coughs a bit of blood up and holds the baby closer. With a last look of indignation, the demon hisses and turns to transform and run into the forest. The woman smiles one last time at the precious child. "Your Mother loves you." She says, and finally the demon's injected venom gets to her system, and her body gives out just as the frost guards run to pick up the child.

16 years later

I lift my long, honey blonde hair up into a tight bun before tightening up my academy uniform. I stare back at myself in the vanity mirror, cursing silently at my pale complexion. I was just starting to apply more foundation to it when the maid called me downstairs. "Athenia." She croons, and I straighten my skirt, walk out of the bathroom and grab my school satchel from the cot in the corner of the bedroom.
  Walking downstairs, they creak as my standard heels make dense footsteps on it. "Don't you just shine up like a new gold sine?" I blush at being noticed and look over at the man sitting at the table in the kitchen.  He straightens his glasses and grins at me. He's my father, or my adoptive one at that. Chief Harley. He was old, but being captain of the guard, he stayed physically fit, and aged well. His salt and pepper colored hair was pushed back, and the glasses only illuminated his electric blue eyes. He already has his uniform on for the day, like I had mine for the first day in academia. I was so excited to be out of this house and actually go to a schooling with other kids my age. He greeted me at the end of the steps, and we embraced each other with a light hug. His soul illuminated at my touch and I saw that he was feeling happy at that particular moment. He looked at me in a mock scolding. "You should be careful today with that, by the way." I nodded. It was very rare for me to touch anyone, mostly for that reason. As soon as I was old enough to understand it, he told me what happened the night the guard found me, when I was just a baby. He didn't keep anything a secret, he said it was because he already had enough on his mind. I am very sensitive to emotions, not my own, but other people's, in close proximity and every time I touch someone. As a direct result of that, I decided to stop my own emotions, and just stick to being as logical as possible. I read books, I studied, I begged my father to let me go to school, and today was the day. I straightened my skirt again, and walked around him. "I will, I love you, see you later." I shut the door before he could answer and started the walk towards Valor tower, on the south side of the town. I saw other kids walking along the same way, and I looked away. It's not that I was antisocial, just that I was very shy. Mostly everything in the town was within walking distance, so that wasn't a problem. Some of the richer folks that actually had the time to take care of them, had horses. The wall that surrounds it was tall, and I've known since I was younger that it kept demons out. Everyone knew about them, but nobody talked about them. They were supposed to be a hushed thing, people were afraid of them, and even though I was nearly killed by one as a baby, I wasn't scared at all. I considered seriously becoming a member of the guard, but there were strict rules against women being members, as dictated by the patron Archangel of the town, Raphael. I've never met him, but I guess he's sexist. The Archangels don't govern much, except the guard and the weapon supply. He works alongside my dad downtown. When I was little, I used to read about the angels. I thought they were cool, not to mention they kept the 7 main counties safe from those monsters outside.