Chapter Five: The Morning After

The ball dropped from her hands and rolled down a steep hill overlooking the beach. Across the ocean a sunset cast its orange light and tinted the sky in its sleepy warm hues. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and barely a breeze. There was no reason for the air raid sirens, no reason to hear that mournful wailing that sounded both distant and everywhere all at once.

From the East a plume of black smoke rose. She could barely see over the orange grove planted by her friend's father, but she knew beyond it was her village and her home. Without thinking she leaned into her hoof ready to run before a hand gripped her wrist tight.

She twisted around and looked up into the face of SunKiss. The older mare did her best to seem calm but failed. Her eyes were dilated and glazed over, her mind going in a million directions as she struggled to keep a quiver out of her voice.

"Sweetie, we need to get into the cellar. You- you know what that siren means, right?"

The twelve year old Arcane tried to pull away, "But-"

SunKiss tightened her grip a little more. The older mare's eyes were shaking back and forth like she couldn't focus. Arcane wasn't old enough to know what trauma looked like on a mature face. She couldn't guess what the mother of her friend had seen on the news moments before.

It was like watching a report from hell itself. Someone held the camera as they desperately tried to remain quiet within a clothing shop's coat rack. The camera operator let out quivering breaths as the point of view remained low to the ground. Along the ornate carpet of the Carousel Boutique in Canterbury forty customers lay moaning in pain, their tattered finery soaked in crimson. An Astral, that may have been orange or yellow before the open gash on her forehead dyed her red, looked forward.

A male voice whispered 'no' over and over as the astral began crawling at him. Perhaps she thought he could make a difference. Perhaps in her dazed state she thought the camera-stallion was there to rescue them. All it managed to do was draw attention. The coats parted and the camera peered up. A desolate face bathed In pink fire grinned a lipless smile down at him. Eyes that were only maddened blue pin pricks stared at him in psychotic glee.

The camera was knocked away and rolled on the ground. Everyone watching saw an arm pinned down by the wrist as a clawed hand slowly sank in deep enough to caress bone as it traveled down to his elbow.

SunKiss gripped tighter. The older mare was using her Mundane strength and Arcane could feel the bones in her forearm cracking.

"Stop! You're hurting me!"

SunKiss turned and began dragging her along the mix of sand and grass bordering the shore. Small stones ran along her hip and tore at her dress. A broken bottle lost in the sand slashed at her leg. She screamed and SunKiss didn't answer.

Arcane flew into a panic and gripped the mare back before twisting her wrist. She didn't bother measuring her power or holding back, she simply twisted SunKiss' arm until radius and ulna snapped. She ran the moment she could without looking back.

She cursed her lack of flight or spells. If she were like mom then Arcane could teleport home. If she were like dad then she could fly. Like it or not, all she had was brute strength. She poured her own magic into her legs. Her dress flapped faster as the orange grove became green and brown blurs. She had to ignore the burn in her muscles, the sharp pain of individual muscle fibers tearing, the cold draw in the core of her body as her natural resources depleted.

She felt a cobblestone crack under her hoof. The closer to town the less decrepit and overgrown the street was. Wide fields were dotted with hollow stone foundations that once marked an outer edge of WestWind. Like many small towns, WestWind shrank as the young left for big cities. Parts of town were left behind to become rubble and only the heart remained.

She slowed to a stop as the streets grew clean and tightly packed together in neat lines of stone. Quaint two-level cottages crowded both sides of the Main Street with wooden signs depicting their profession. Two pubs, blacksmith, bakery, and dozens more housed essential resources for farmers all around along with the generations of shopkeepers that kept them running.

Pain shot up her leg as the calf muscle clenched so hard it threatened to fracture bone and rip tendons. Her body fell hard onto the street. Darkness hung at the edge of her vision as her body grew cold and rigid. Even at her age she knew Mundane magic could push physical limits but not their repercussions.

She gripped at cobblestones and dragged herself to one side of the street. Her sense of smell was heightened and her mouth watered for what she recognized as ripe fruit. She drew closer to HonneyDew's Produce and ignored the shards of glass brushing against her thigh. Her vision was a pin prick of light and growing more narrow. She may as well be a root slowly groping for nutrients in the dark.

Her hands found a Cantaloupe and brought it to her lips. She breathed in the sweet nectar and sank her teeth in. Her sharp fangs dug into the rine and began chewing. She didn't care about the bitter peel or the strange iron taste coating it. Soon she was rewarded with the water and pulp. A feeling of euphoria rushed over her as the magic fate had given her race quickly knitted her bones and mended tissues.

She was left starving yet functional. Her stomach screamed for more and her healing wasn't complete, but she could climb to her feet. Her vision cleared up as she slowly rose before rushing onto her hooves. Fruit had spilled from a shattered display window. Near the produce was the Mundane that owned the shop and grew everything there.

HoneyDew lay on her back as she stared at nothing as she took in shallow breaths. Crimson stains were already a shade of coagulated brown along her torn trousers, apron, and blouse. Between the tares she could see fresh wounds from knee to foot, from elbow to wrist.

Arcane felt a spark of hope and bobbled closer to where most of the glass and produce landed. She grabbed two oranges and lowered onto her knees near the older Mundane. Her fingers sank into the orange rind and ripped it open with shaking hands before touching a slice to HoneyDew's lips. The older mare took it beteeen her teeth, ground it down, and swallowed.

"More", HonneyDew said in a parched voice.

Arcane pulled apart more slices and fed them one by one. Her eyes moved to the wounds expecting them to close at at any moment. There was no change.

The older mare gently gripped Arcane's wrist and gave one of those tired adult smiles. It was the smile of someone who didn't have hope yet wanted it for another. HoneyDew slowly sat up and dragged herself up against her shop. At the very least she was in the shade.

"Arcane, find somewhere to hide. It- Go, go now."

Fear filled the mare's eyes as something Arcane's size wandered from an alley several stores down the street. Its skin was translucent white that flowed and rippled like flame from a wick. Below that skin, of what served as skin, was ashen bone. Its skull was deer-like with exposed sinus and high cheekbones. Its skeletal grin was made more sinister by tiny white pinpricks of light hovering within vacant sockets.

Ram's horns curled back from its temples and sharply clawed talons clicked along the cobble stones. Its manic eyes turned and seemingly overlooked Arcane as it looked back from where it came. It waited as a pale purple light emerged.

Arcane was torn from the sight of this monster by HoneyDew's child-like whimper.

"Run, girl. Run before she sees you."

She couldn't budge. Arcane could feel its power and it was greater than anything she had known in her short fifteen years. More of the small white 'children' walked out, some slow and others in a frantic search for more victims. Finally came the "mother".

Lilac fire poured upwards and formed the shape of a slender feminine figure. Past its delicate skeletal face the fire changed colors to deep violet and cyan. One of the smaller things lunged forward yet stopped after only a step. It turned and looked at the colorful form, making Arcane do the same. The mother held up a hand. The smaller beings seemed to follow an unspoken command and dashed down an avenue in the direction Arcane had come from.

It walked with grace and confidence an abomination didn't deserve. Its eyes looked deep into Hers, the stare freezing her in place. It had a menacing intelligence yet something in its eyes was wrong. Deep into those violet points was a plea. It didn't come in words yet the intention was undeniable. That suffocated light begged her to run away.

The tall dragon turned and lowered onto one knee before HoneyDew. She hovered over the mare with a profane mockery of care and concern.

"Poor child.", it said in a motherly tone, "You're not meant to die." It placed a hand on her forearm. The mare screamed out as the lilac fire sizzled her flesh, Cauterizing the wound.

The creature smiled as if the moans of pain were a sort of 'thank you' before moving onto the next limb. Once finished, it stood and walked to Arcane. It grew close enough for her to see a band around its neck and a chain hovering from it like the string of a kite. The chain faded into thin air only an arm's length, yet something made Arcane suspect it was connected to some being hidden an impossible distance away.

"My dear, your eyes…" its mature and almost motherly voice spoke as it reached out for her face. Three images overlapped within Arcane's mind. She could see the monster before her. She could see a flesh and blood dragon of the same colors screaming in futile rage. She could see the hollow stare of a white figure that was as beautiful as she was terrifying.

-

Arcane woke with the thrum of her heartbeat striking her eardrums. Her gift was at full power and the world was streaked with colors and symbols. She saw roots deep in the ground and every roach between the walls. She could see cables in their hidden networks and the information that ran through them. Closing her eyes tightly didn't give her any relief. She looked down from where she lay and saw orange-red light coursing through veins and nerves within Brick's arms as the larger mare held close.

"It's okay. I'm here Hex- Arcane. Breathe. Just breathe in slowly."

She felt the power in Brick's hold and the soft touch of her breasts against her back. The other Mare's cheek pressed beside her neck, the words gently spoken under Arcane's ear.

The onslaught of information began to dim slowly within Brick's embrace. Fear finally gave into sadness as Bless curled into herself and let it all go. The large mare held her with the love and care of the mother she would soon become. She waited for the quivers and sobs to slow before a word parted her lips again.

"Want to talk about it?"

Arcane shook her head. The nightmare faded from her memory by the time her mind was clear enough to truly wake. All that ever remained was the terror it gave her, what gave that terror stayed where all forgotten things remain. In time she knew it would come again, and that would be enough.