Eyla ran. The trees movedpast her in a blur. Tears spilled over her cheeks as the memories of Titan’sdeath and his dying words echoed in her mind. She sniffed back the tears andset her face. The grief of his passing made it hard to breathe. And she neededto be clear headed for what she was about to do. Titan would not remain un-avenged.Branches of trees whipped her face and legs as she crashed through them. Butthe small pains of their lashes only served as an incentive as she followed thetrail that the creature had left. Then she realized that the trail wasgradually fading away.

“No!” she yelled as shestopped; the last of the trail had vanished. She stood staring at the smalldisturbance of leaves on the ground. She walked a few steps in one directionbut found no welcome start up. She returned to the end of the trail. Sheclenched her hands in frustration.

“No!’ she yelled again, “This cannot happen!Titan!” she slumped to the ground. Her rage was ebbing away. She looked at herhands. They were covered in Titan’s blood. She clenched her jaw and forced herrage to build again. She had to replace the creature that killed Titan. She hadto! She got up. Then she remembered that when she had seen the creature it wasclothed in yellow light. “That means that it was magical!” she exclaimed outloud, “Ha!” she summoned her rage and the world exploded into blue light. Shelooked around. There was nothing, and then she pounced on a bush. There was afaint glow of yellow in its leaves. She looked up and saw another shade ofyellow further on. “Well my magical killer, here I come,” she whispered and dashedoff following the faint trail of light.

She raced along the trailleading her in great circles. Whatever the creature was, it was not stupid. Ithad wandered about in various directions so as to throw anything off its trail.Eyla grinned; it did not expect that its hunter would be following the trail ofits magical essence. She dashed through the underbrush of the forest; thirstand hunger were distant to her mind. All she was concerned about was this huntand the kill that she was going to make. The trail was getting brighter; theyellow essence of the creature was more frequently seen and was more in astraight line. Apparently the creature thought that it had made enough sidetrails to throw anyone off.

Eyla set her jaw; that was abad mistake on the creature’s part. And it was going to die for it. Now shecould hear noises; the movement of bushes, the rustling of leaves. It was nolonger being careful. She crouched over low till the bushes were over her head.She was almost flat out. Then she began to crawl. The thick carpet of leavesmuffled her approach. She could see the vast teeming life of the forest floorall in their glowing blue, but her berserker eyes only desired to rest upon theyellow of that creature. Then quite suddenly the bush ended and it stood in aclearing.

Eyla’s chest felt as thoughit was being crushed. Her fingers gripped the dirt. Hey eyes died down and theforest sprang back into its normal colours. Eyla took in the creature. It wastaller than an average man, with shoulder length black hair. Suddenly Titan’sdying face came back to her. She bent her head, swallowed her tears and forcedherself to look at the creature. She had to know its structure before she couldattack. It seemed to be looking for something. It was naked, but it had nogenitals. Its buttocks were just a smooth sheet of skin. Titan’s last breathsounded in her ears. She bent her head again, then snapped it back up andpushed out the image out of her head. The creature was white skinned, too whiteto be normal. Suddenly it dropped and plunged its hand into the ground. Theearth shook and burst open under the force of the blow. Eyla fell flat on herstomach in shock. The creature pulled out a small wriggling animal from theforest floor. The animal was squeaking in horror and protest. The creaturelifted it up and the long tube-like thing hanging from its face coiled up likea snake. Then the tube darted forward and plunged into the chest of the animal.The animal screamed and Eyla saw the tube recoil gently as the creature suckedthe animal’s blood into itself. Eyla felt sick. Bile burned her throat. Shewanted to get up and run away. Thehorror of this creature seemed too much.

Then Titan came back to her.Tears rolled upon her again. She hardened herself. This creature must die. Sheleapt forward and landed a few feet away from the creature. It looked at her,its tube still buried in the animal’s chest. Eyla rose slowly and pulled herfishing knife out of her tunic belt. The creature turned to face her, snappedthe tube out of the animal and tossed it into the trees behind. Eyla heard theanimal squealing as it flew. Her rage deepened. The creature’s mouth coiledback to the front and hissed loud and shrill. Eyla stood still. She extendedher hand and held the blade away from her, and then she crouched touching herfingertips to the ground in front of her. The creature looked her up and down.Then suddenly metal began to grow out of it. Eyla hid her surprise. The metalpassed through the creature’s skin and formed armour over it. Then it raisedits hand and a long blade slid out of its palm. It gripped the blade and placedit in front of itself. Eyla swallowedher fear. She loosened her rage, and to her eyes the world burst into blue, andthe creature in front of her; into yellow. The creature looked at her thenattacked.

It was upon her before sheknew what was happening. She instinctively raised her knife hand to protectherself. The blade of the creature bore down on her, but the blade of her knifepassed through it, as if it was not there. Both Eyla and the creature stared atthe two blades intertwined, the Eyla grinned and leapt up, throwing thecreature back from her.

“Even your armour is magic,”she said, “I do not think you can throw your magic, so it’s a one on onesituation really. Your weapons and armour cannot protect you now.” She rushedto the creature then dived sideways. Only a streak of leaves flying in her wakeshowed where she was. The creature spun around seeming confused. She movedaround it and slashed at its back with her knife. A hiss of pain echoed in theforest and the creature arched its back. It bent over and seemed to becrouching. She moved to slash it again, when it suddenly rose up and its blademet her leg. She screamed as the blade ate through the skin. She droppedheavily to the floor.

The wound was big and itopened wide. The creature dove toward her and she leapt back. The pain stabbedher leg. She dropped heavily to the floor again. The creature rose up slowlyand from its other palm, another blade grew.

“Damn,” Eyla muttered. Thecreature came at her again; she dived to the side as the blades came down. Thenshe dove across the forest floor and landed next to its armored leg. Shestabbed her knife deep into the leg. The creature hissed again and kicked her.She sailed low over the leaves and slammed into a tree. Her ribs felt as thoughthey were broken. The creature did not even pull the knife from its leg. Itjust came after her. She could not move very well. She rolled half heartedly tothe side but the blades still nipped her shoulder. She groaned. Her breath wascut short as the creature kicked her in the face, sending her skidding acrossthe floor once more. Leaves tangled in her hair and dirt flew into her eyes. Itran to her and stepped on her hurt leg. She screamed as the pain numbed all hersenses. It drove a sword into her arm pinning her down. She could not breathe.Her cries died out.

The creature knelt over her, one knee pressedinto her stomach. She half rose in agony. The second blade struck though hershoulder. She had no more strength for screaming. The pain was blinding. Theforest returned to its normal hues. She could feel her own blood, wet and warmon her skin. The face of the creature loomed over her. The metal sank back intoits face and the long tube coiled out. Her eyes opened in horror. Then the tubeshot forward.

She felt her chest explode.She pulled in ragged breath, and the tube wriggled into her. Then she felt herentire body convulse. Her insides were being ripped out. The agony was nothinglike she ever felt. Her fingers clawed the dirt frantically as her visiondimmed. The world sank into blackness. Then suddenly she began to realize thatshe was feeling no pain. The world around her began to whiten. Soon she was ina place of blinding whiteness, but she found that she could bear the startlingglow.

“Oh Great One!” she cried out.

“Yes,” a deep resonant Voice answered. Shestopped, her tears caught in her throat. “You called me?” the Voice asked.

“Am I dead?” she asked.

“On the verge of death,” theVoice answered back. Eyla bent her head, then she jerked it back up; she wasstanding!

“What is going on?” sheexclaimed.

“You are dying, that meansthe spirit leaves the body,” the Voice said.

“You mean this is my spirit?”Eyla asked.

“Yes,” the Voice affirmed, “Are you ready todie Eyla?”

“No,” she admitted.

“Why not?” the Voice askedagain.

“I am dying on the path ofrevenge. I should have gone with Titan. And I…I have not been praying lately,”she replied.

“I know,” the Voice said, “I miss hearing yourvoice.” The Voice sounded sad and a bit hurt.

Eyla looked around, “Who are you?”

“The Great One; did you notcall for me?” the Voice said.

Eyla bent her head again,“Does this mean I go the Bad Place?”

“No,” the Voice grew moreroyal sounding, “I am not done with you yet. When your task in Cysia is donethen we shall meet again.”

Eyla felt a hand touch herforehead and she raised her head to replace herself looking at the creature. The pain slammed into her again. But she feltrenewed. She opened her mouth, screamed and pushed up with all her might. Thecreature looked surprised as it fell back, it tube and swords tearing out ofher. She sucked in air and leapt forward yanking the knife out of thecreature’s leg. The creature flung away but she grabbed its hand and spun itaround. The world burst into blue and she plunged the knife through the armorinto its chest. She stumbled into it and pushed it to the ground. Then sheclimbed on it and began to punch it in the face. Armor cracked under her blowsand blood spurted out. The world then seemed to go into a blur and she didn’tknow how to stop.

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