Ellyne’s vision was something akin to an abstract painting with vague, blurred shapes that eventually blended as the brush strokes wandered aimlessly across the canvas. Muffled voices mixed with chaotic, unidentifiable sounds added to her confusion as she tried to get her bearings.
She saw motion everywhere. People running, perhaps? Overwhelmed, she shut her eyes and cupped her hands over her ears, trying desperately to shut out the world so she could think. It did little good, however, and the myriad of stimuli threatened to enrage her.
Which was when the thought occurred to her—she was alive! But how? The fall … she thought it impossible to survive, yet here she was. Her body ached but she didn’t feel any injuries, nor could she see any cuts, bruises, or missing body parts.
“I guess the lizards really are as tough as they appear,” she mumbled, the words feeling sluggish on her tongue. She couldn’t understand her own voice through her clouded hearing anyway but then, there was no one around to hear it. “Nothing like cushioning your fall with a reptile corpse, I guess. If it knew it’d saved my life, I bet it wouldn’t be happy.”
Slowly, she opened her eyes and removed her hands from her ears, resisting the urge to shut out the world again. It almost hurt, everything happening around her. If she could just lie on the ground in silence and rest … if everyone could’ve simply left her alone, it would’ve been wonderful.
Something in Ellyne’s back popped as she slowly sat up, leaning forward, and brushing blond hair out of her face. “I’d prefer not to do any of that again,” she mused, hearing her voice clearer, but still distorted. “What about you, lizard face?”
A black blob approached, and Ellyne tried to stand in case she needed to fight, but her arms and legs failed to support her, and she faltered. “Fine,” she sighed. “If you want to kill me then just go ahead. I’m too tired for this shit. Just do it quickly because I don’t want to wait around.”
She didn’t want to die, but Ellyne knew she couldn’t fight right now, no matter how dire the circumstances. But the black shape stopped and, instead, shouted words Ellyne didn’t understand. At least she knew, whatever it was, it wasn’t looking to kill her—at least, not immediately.
“I don’t know what you want,” she muttered, “but … just give me a second or two, okay? I’ve had a rough day.”
Barely after she finished her sentence, Ellyne found herself entangled in a tight, almost uncomfortable hug. She gasped, both finding it difficult to breathe while also becoming acutely aware of surfacing pain probably resulting from the impact. Perhaps she hadn’t escaped unscathed.
“Nicole,” she squeaked, “not so tight, girl. I survived crashing to the ground only to be crushed by you.”
Either her words were muddled and unintelligible or Nicole wasn’t listening, because the hug continued as did the jumbled noise coming from the girl’s mouth. Ellyne decided to ride it out. The girl would eventually release her death grip and then probably say something about having to flee.
Slowly, the blobs became more distinct shapes and muffled, jumbled noises became words, the majority of which, if Ellyne concentrated hard enough, she could largely understand. She felt her faculties return and wriggled free of Nicole’s embrace to finally stand on shaky legs.
“… ridiculous! I’ve never seen anything like it before!” Nicole laughed and shouted. “That was so intense and cool and holy cow I’m so glad you’re all right, Ellyne! I mean, I hope you’re all right, but it looks like you are and—”
“Nicole?”
“What?”
“Take a breath.”
Ellyne inspected herself, noting the numerous holes in her clothes that showed no evidence of underlying injuries—not even dried blood to indicate a past wound. She flexed her arms and stretched, expecting to feel some sort of pain but, aside from a little stiffness, she felt nothing out of the ordinary.
“And I can’t believe what you did! It was amazing! First you were up there flying and fighting the Golgolonar and then you came screaming down and, bam, plowed right into the street and I thought you were dead but you’re not dead, but you looked like you probably were but anyway the Golgolonar’s dead I think!”
The Golgolonar. Where was it? Ellyne looked around her and finally spotted the creature—what little she could see. Only part of a tail and a foot lay outside what appeared to be a crater in the street. As she approached, cautiously watching for any signs of movement, she saw people huddled in alleys and shops, behind vehicles and benches, watching her. They pointed and whispered to one another, obviously captivated.
“I hope they all enjoyed the show,” she mused as she neared the edge. Suddenly, Nicole was next to her, and they both stared down at the scene.
“Nasty,” Nicole gagged, turning away. Ellyne could hear the heaving sounds as the girl tried not to vomit.
“I … I did this? How the hell did I survive something like that?”
The lumbering lizard’s body was barely recognizable, having been partially dismembered, shredded, and lying in a purple pool. The crater itself was a few feet deep and maybe ten feet across which, Ellyne had to admit, was impressive.
“Of all the things I’ve accomplished during my time on this rock, this must be the most impressive yet. You know what this means, don’t you?”
Nicole returned a confused look.
“Ellyne Thandaral, golden gunslinger, mage breaker and now, dragon slayer!”
“Also, possible meteorite,” Nicole giggled, but the levity quickly died. “Don’t get ahead of yourself,” she said. “You could’ve died, you know.”
“How did I not end up like that?” Ellyne asked, mouth agape and eyes wide. She pointed to the scattered bits of the Golgolonar. “Even using its body as a weird kind of shield … I should be dead, too. At the very least, I should be injured, but I’m neither.”
Nicole laughed nervously, trying to both look away but also staring at the carnage. “You were … sort of glowing when you descended.”
“Glowing?”
“Yeah. My guess is you were protected in a way by flocia—channeling it somehow.”
“I’m cursed,” Ellyne spat.
“I don’t understand. What you did was amazing! It’s never been done! I don’t think anyone knew it was even possible!”
“All my life, I’ve avoided magic. I can’t use it. I don’t want to use it. I was perfectly happy without it but now, not only can I use magic, but I am magic. I can’t escape it. I can’t even control it!”
“Well, I mean, that’s not really accurate—” Nicole’s words trailed off, obviously discouraged by the glare Ellyne sent her way.
“Magic is … a prison. It corrupts and creates disasters and pain.”
“But it also creates wondrous things!” Nicole argued. “We’ve come so far since we discovered magic. People live longer, healthier lives and new discoveries are made all the time. None of that would’ve been possible without it.”
“Or it might have been possible, and simply taken longer. There are probably entire civilizations on other planets somewhere that have never touched magic and are probably doing just fine without it.”
Nicole frowned. “Okay, so, we should probably get to safety. Just one of those guys was tough enough to take down, we don’t want to be hanging around when its friends show, wondering what happened.”
“Good idea. I guess, let’s get Marik and get back to my apartment. Wait, where is Marik?”
Nicole tugged Ellyne’s arm. “There’s no time to talk about it, come on.”
“What exactly is that supposed to mean?”
“It means we need to leave, and we’ll discuss it when we’re not fleeing a murder scene.”
Ellyne didn’t budge.
“Nicole … what aren’t you telling me?”
The girl sighed, defeated. “I’ll explain on the way, but we need to get out of here first.”
Ellyne looked up at the massive ship floating high above. “Yeah,” she muttered, keeping her gaze upward, “I think you’re probably right. Let’s go.”
Like rats when the lights are turned on, they scurried into the alley, dodging trash and debris, until they were a few blocks away when they stopped to catch their breath.
“Well, that—”
Ellyne held her finger up to Nicole’s face. “Shh,” she whispered. “Do you hear that?”
“It sounds like a fight.”
“Exactly.” Ellyne badly wanted to go back to the scene and watch whatever had transpired. She nearly suggested to Nicole that they return but resisted the urge.
“I wonder who’s fighting?”
“No idea, but I’m pretty sure none of them are friendlies, so if they wipe one another out, I’m okay with that.” Ellyne chuckled. “Just as long as we’re not caught up in it, of course. Maybe the Kithrak and the Golgolonar got into it.”
“They do seem to dislike each other.”
“Maybe we can turn them against each other and mop up the survivors. Either that, or I’m going to need a whole lot more bullets.”