Wings of Fire: The First Animus

Chapter 3

Aurora's POV

What the scavenger just said stopped Aurora's thinking immediately. "What!" she cried.

"It's possible," said the sly scavenger with a smile, shrugging.

"Tell me how." Aurora snatched the scavenger off the ground.

"LET GO OF ME!" the scavenger snarled.

"Fine!" Aurora dropped him from her talon.

"HEY!" the scavenger screeched, outraged. "Don't treat me like that!"

"Sorry," Aurora mumbled, rolling her eyes, not feeling sorry at all.

The scavenger suddenly bolted.

That was all it took to make Aurora flare with anger.

"You think you can outrun a dragon can't you!" she growled.

She sped full speed towards the scavenger, talons outstretched. Then she pinned him to the ground with one sharp claw.

"Tell me how!" she spat again. "Or you may find yourself to be a bloody mass as food for the wolves."

That shut the scavenger up.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU WANT ME TO TELL YOU THAT--" Aurora began.

"Alright you greedy little monster," the scavenger said, sounding very annoyed. "My kind possesses a powerful magic capable of doing many things. All you have to say is, 'I enchant...' then whatever you enchant will do what you tell it to do. For example... I enchant Aurora to lose all her claws."

Aurora shrieked as her claws detached themselves from her body. Blood trickled down her blunt talons.

"Now I enchant the claws to go back onto Aurora's talons without pain and blood," the scavenger quickly replied, for he had not expected it to be so bloody.

To the scavenger's astonishment (whose name was Slash), Aurora seemed more amazed than furious.

"Did you just use... animus magic?" she whispered, staring at her healed talons, mostly to herself.

"Um, yes," answered Slash, more confused than Aurora.

Aurora immediately got down on her knees, folded her wings, and bowed to the scavenger. Then she asked, "With all due respect, scavenger, may you enchant me to be an animus?"

Slash hesitated. If he gave this dragon animus power, there could be no limit to what she could do. But if he added some disadvantages...

"Fine," said Slash defiantly. "I will give you animus magic... but you must know one thing."

Aurora's ears perked up.

"You must not use your magic too much," the scavenger warned, "or you will go mad."

"What do you mean?" asked Aurora as pinpoints of fear stabbed her.

"It means," said Slash matter-of-factly, "The price for one animus spell is part of your soul, even if you enchant your soul to never lose itself."

"Alright, I accept your terms," said Aurora, shivering not from the freezing air but from fear.

"Oh, and another thing," said the scavenger, looking Aurora in the eye. "You can cast spells without speaking. And any children you have... may have a chance of being an animus, for these powers pass down to your descendants. Understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," said Aurora, rolling her eyes.

"I enchant Aurora the IceWing dragon to possess animus magic," Slash rambled.

Almost right after the scavenger said those words, it felt like lightning had struck her. Her body felt charged with new energy.

"Thank you," said Aurora, bowing in reverence to the scavenger.

In a flash of light, the scavenger vanished.

Aurora faced the pink glow that marked where the sun had set and flew towards it.

Her first spell would be to become the IceWing queen.