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Chapter 2: Scarlet Dawn

Chapter 2: Scarlet Dawn

 

—AND THEN THERE WAS DARKNESS and blackness and changing. Shadows shifted and formed. Floating. Detached. Blankness.

She looked down and saw a whirlwind, a commotion, organized chaos that twisted and changed and stretched. Years, minutes, seconds later, the darkness cleared with a soft ‘pop’ and the writhing shadows melted away, disappearing like wisps of smoke. All she could see was a dark figure, silhouetted in the dim light.

It reared its head and seemed to survey its surroundings. A triangular ear swiveled to face forwards, lips pulled back in a snarl. It started forward and suddenly she was being dragged downwards. The world twisted and turned and then she was looking—no, glaring at Emily. But the vantage point was strange: it was as if she was on all fours, crouched on the floor.

She looked down and found a furred paw, black as night, holding her up. This hadn't happened before. Before, her skin would feel like it was being ripped to shreds by the monster that lived inside, and all she felt would be an overwhelming need to hurt something, make something bleed. She had never changed before. But now…

There was a gasp and she looked up. Emily was backing away. Her voice was horrified when she spoke. “W-What are you?”

Sound seemed to trigger something in her, because she suddenly had tunnel vision and everything was blurry except for Emily’s face, which was still frozen in an expression of utter horror. Something flicked back onto her head—her ears?—and then, against her will, she was moving forward, one paw in front of the other. Emily was backing away. “What are you doing? Why are you—”

There was a rumbling sound, a growl that came out of her own throat. Amber’s vision was dark around the edges. Emily’s eyes were wide with horror, surprise, shock, though fear was the emotion that seemed to make the swirling cocktail all the more appealing.

A black form leapt and shadows flashed, teeth bared. Claws white in the darkness.

Paint it red.

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The horizon was turning red, as the sun rose. Daniel squinted. Usually it was a rosy light, but today the clouds were painted scarlet, like freshly spilled blood.

It was an ominous feeling, but he had every reason to feel unnerved. Something had happened. Something big enough to warrant both Daron twins and the camp’s best fighters to teleport to the scene.

On top of his concern, Daniel felt nervous. The Daron twins told him that he had potential and that he had the power to minimise—maybe even eradicate—the damage caused by Demon attacks. He had the power to have expectations heaped on him.

But this didn't seem like the average Demon attack. The Human Delegates had contacted the camp directly; Daniel had felt the mental signature of the strongest telepaths in the world. The people around him shifted and shuffled their feet, murmuring among themselves. They all knew that whatever the situation was, it was dire. And yet the Daron twins thought it fit to bring him along. They hadn’t even given him enough time to arm himself. Sure, he’d been at Camp for years, but he got the sense that he wasn’t really supposed to be here. Major Demons attacks were usually left to the adults, people that had graduated from Camp.