Aureate Fates

9

Nyall. Nyall was nothing, nothing like any of the Ghostly Five. She was about to tell him so, but the bastard shot at her. Marisol quickly ducked and started left. She still could not feel his heart, and the thought of it made her uneasy.

Perhaps I would have to use my pistole, after all, Marisol thought. Or maybe, if I got close enough—

Erik viewed Marisol with a sort of confusion. Cold eyes with a slight squint. She used the opportunity to fire a shot towards his face. As swift as lightning, the Captain dodged it and accelerated forward. Like a shadow; entirely inhuman.

He was towering over her in an instant. A gleam of unrestrained arrogance danced in his eyes as he swept her feet, bringing her to the ground. Hard. The movement had her head swimming, drowning.

His weight topped hers on the forest ground. Erik scanned his keen eyes over every inch of her body, looking for her ribbon. Or something else. She couldn't quite decipher the frustrated puzzlement in his features.

She felt her magic shove against her chest, yet, she could not unleash it on the devil that pinned her down. His form was solid and radiating with blinding strength. Even at Midway, she hadn't known strength like this. Marisol pushed away her thoughts and brought her hand to his arm, its warmth startling her.

Come on. Bleed, bleed—

Erik snarled and seized her hand, pinning it above her head. In return, Marisol brought her knee up with as much force as she could muster. It landed near his abdomen, which made him loosen the grip he had on her. She snaked out from under Erik and retrieved one of the weighty rocks she had spotted before he had brought her down.

He would bleed, magic or not.

Erik yanked on her leg and dragged her to him; seemingly with minimal effort. "Where do you think you're going with that rock?" His voice was a raspy drawl.

She kicked out once, her heel landing straight to his chest. As Marisol noticed that it did nothing to wound him, her heart sank. Once again, she was under him, and this time, Erik made to grab her ribbon, which was wrapped securely around the bracelet that Nyall had given her.

Erik was millimeters away from taking it when an animalistic growl filled her ears. From the baritone, she knew it was a large animal.

Animal?

Marisol turned to Erik, who's face resembled something close to surprised fury as he took in the oncoming threat. He cursed under his breath as he abandoned Marisol on the floor, almost as if was expecting this.

She followed Erik's line of sight and saw something crafted from a nightmare. Two large beasts, each with thick and burly horns.

They could have been bears, but bears did not move the way they did. Calculating, unhurried steps, examining their prey. Marisol quickly got to her feet and thought of Nyall. And Reese.

She took a breath and reminded herself that if these creatures had already terrorized other game-players, there would be panic.

But there was no panic. Only deafening silence.

Marisol watched as Erik slowly pulled out two knives from the sheath strapped to his leg, one that she hadn't seen until now. She took a step back, as silently as she could, and planned to sprint away to find Nyall. But the creatures had other plans. They caught her small movement backwards with a snap of their heads. In unison.

Holy.

"Already running away?" Erik asked her, mockingly, still keeping his eye on his new opponents.

She flashed her eyes at him in irritation. In response, his mouth curved into a swaggering smile, as if he could detect her very expression. Attention still fixed on the beasts, Erik slid one of his blades to Marisol. The hilt of it was embroidered with silver trees. An Orvar heirloom.

Join or die, was the ultimatum she was faced with. She preferred not to die.

"We are not a team," Marisol stated after she made her decision to pick it up. She readied her magic and planted her feet.

Just as one of the beasts leapt towards Erik, he said, coldly, "I should hope not."

The Captain swifty advanced toward the creature and sunk one of his knives into the thick fur of its back. The creature released a pained whine and bared its large teeth. Erik aggressively grabbed hold of its neck and—

She didn't get to see what happened next, for she heard a growling behind her. The same as before. When she didn't see the second beast in its initial position, she knew that it had somehow snuck behind her. Slowly, she turned around and forced herself not to flinch as she beheld the slobbering fangs that were inches away from her face.

Act. Never freeze.

Using her height to her advantage, Marisol quickly ducked beneath the creature and plunged the Orvar blade into the center of its belly where thick, black blood now coated her hand. The beast let out a roar that shook the ground beneath her feet, and it reeled on its hind legs as Marisol struck again.

She knew the wounds she was giving the creature wouldn't hold it off for long, so she concentrated her magic onto the erratically beating heart of it. Pictured the veins in a frenzy. The buzz of her fingertips told her that the creature would be dead soon.

Just a while longer.

Blood rained from the creatures' belly wound, and more found exit from its ears. Marisol made quick to scurry out from under the beast, preparing for its collapse. With a tired grunt, the beast did exactly that.

Her breaths came labored as she turned around. Silence again. Erik Orvar stood before his own fallen beast, seemingly unruffled by the action with his arms crossed and unamusement in his steely gaze.

It was the type of stare that made men scrape and bow. But Marisol was a woman, and she was much too tired to bow.

She avoided Erik's gaze as she handed him his blade in its bloody glory. She might have just wielded the very weapon he used to inflict pain on the vulnerable members of their society. The thought disgusted her.

Erik set the blade back in its sheath while he inspected her face. "Silence about this, or I'll have your head."

Marisol gathered up her pistole, feeling just the slightest bit off-balance. "Don't worry, Captain," she said, bitterly. "I won't tell the world about how you defeated two whole beasts with that supreme strength of yours."

"Want to say that louder?" Erik threatened, being the cold ghost he was.

Marisol didn't answer, she only began her trek to Nyall. Her legs shook as she put extreme distance between her and the Captain. Over and over, she saw visions of the beast's horrifying face.

She could not shake it from her memory, yet, she couldn't bring herself to think about what the chancellor would think. Or what sort of questioning she would have to go through when he discovered her stunt.

Normal girls do not kill beasts.

As her vison tilted, she knelt on the forest floor. Before her vision gave out, she noticed that her ribbons were missing. All of them.

That bastard.