"MOMMY!"
"PLEASE NO!"
A little boy's screams echoed inside a cramped closet, his eye pressed to the gap in the doors. His fingers were wrapped tightly around the handle, which was white hot, searing his hands.
He pushed with all his might because on the other side, two monsters were devouring his mother.
Although they ripped her limb from limb with their sharp fangs and claws, not a single drop of blood stained their fur—one pitch black, the other brighter than day.
Enjoying the aroma, the cats stopped feasting to lap at the sweet pool of blood... then continued tearing into her with renewed hunger.
"STOP!" The boy pounded his fist against the doors. But they never opened.
It didn't even seem like his cries escaped the cage.
Then, the monsters lifted their heads, ears twitching. At once, their feline faces twisted into impossibly wide grins.
Scraping their claws across the hardwood, they cackled their way to the closet.
"The mutt had a child."
"Let's finish him off before the others arrive."
The boy's legs gave out, and he crumpled into the corner. His tiny shaking hands clamped over his mouth to try and prevent the inevitable. In the next instant, a slit red eye glimmered through the crack, its vertical pupil narrowing as it fixed on the trembling child.
"I see you."
His heart pounded faster and faster, like it would explode at any moment... and then.
THUD!
Rattle!
Thud!
Damien groaned awake, wiping cold sweat from his forehead.
The nightmare faded as the wagon he had hitched a ride in clattered over another pothole.
Damn this driver. That's the last time I'll trust a druid.
He'd already woken three times from the druid's shitty driving. Each time a little more exhausting than the last. Luckily, the threadbare wagon cover was riddled with tears, giving him glimpses of the sky. At least he had other ways to pass the time.
The bright western continent sky was home to thousands of Magical Beasts. Two were battling over prey. With a long skinny body, azure feathers, and short wings, the one dominating the tussle was an Azure spearjack. Above it, a mighty green dragon flapped its wings vigorously, stirring wind that even managed to tousle Damien's black hair from many miles away.
It was a clash of the titans.
Yet, Damien simply turned back around, jaw clenched. His black eyes lingered on the decrepit, creaking floor.
Thirteen years of the same nightmare. Years of waking his matrons in the middle of the night, crying and begging for his mother, who'd been there right beside him just moments before. Eventually, somewhere between the tears and endless repetition, his sorrow sharpened into something else.
His fist curled into a tight ball.
I was weak, sniveling, and helpless to do anything but watch. But not anymore. My awakening six months ago changed everything. So just you fucking wait, cats, because I'm coming for you.
"Are we there yet?"
Beside him, a frail thirteen-year-old boy with brown eyes and hair yawned himself awake.
Damien rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"What do you mean, are we there yet?! We still have two days until we reach the northern continent."
"Oh. Well, I think I'll go back to sleep then." Jack turned on his side and rested his head on a cabbage.
"No, you don't."
With a flick, wind rolled off Damien's finger and slithered up his younger brother's nose.
"AHH."
Jack jolted awake, clutching his nose shut.
"What was that for!"
"Who needs sleep? Can't two brothers keep each other company on their long and perilous journey to slay some mythical beasts?"
Damien smirked, but in his heart of hearts, he'd much rather be sleeping too.
I might as well make Jack suffer with me.
"No, we can't," Jack said, frowning, eyes narrowed.
"Listen here—"
The wagon slammed into a pothole, and Damien banged his head against the metal link that attached the cover to the wagon.
"Agh, god damnit!"
"That's what you get!" Jack doubled over in laughter. "You should see the look on your dumb face."
Angrily rubbing his head, Damien shouted.
"Hey, you shitty druid, how about you avoid the potholes that my blind grandmother could see!"
Creak!
The wagon came to a sudden halt.
Ah shit.
A moment later, Damien and Jack were standing on the side of a dirt road, each holding a bag full of clothes and other essentials. To their left and right, a wasteland of orange dust and stone stretched for miles. Atop his horse, the druid mumbled curses in a language Damien didn't understand but was sure were aimed at him. Then he took a swig from his metal flask and cracked his whip.
As the brothers watched the wagon vanish into the distance, Jack sighed.
"You just had to yell at the guy, huh?"
Damien knelt to the side of the road and picked up a rock. He tossed it a few times, letting it dissolve in his hand...then he pointed north.
"Let's go. We have a long trip."
"You could at least acknowledge your mistake, brother. Or you know, master the fire element, so we don't freeze to death. It's already a bit chilly."
"Oh, yeah, I'll just dilly-dally my way to a volcano and hop right in then."
Damien commanded the wind. In other words, he was an Elementalist, someone who could conjure and control elements after prolonged contact. While his arsenal, as of now, consisted only of wind, he could learn more elements after months or sometimes years of constant exposure. His brother's comment about fire was a joke, or at least he hoped. To learn fire, he didn't even want to think about the pain he would have to endure.
Shaking his head, Damien added,
"We have a better chance of reaching those mountains before dark if we start walking now."
At the end of the winding dirt road, the Great Divide's jagged peaks blazed with the sun's golden light, marking where the Western continent ended and the Northern began.
Cannibalistic tribes, Magical beasts, scheming thieves—Damien had heard the mountain range's tall tales. Yet he shrugged.
Beats rotting in the orphanage...and being in the wastelands after dark.
The wasteland beasts were nocturnal predators, and with no water for miles, two fresh bodies would attract them like mosquitoes to a lake.
"Yeah, let's hurry," Jack mumbled.
So they were off, the idiotic brothers on a quest to slay two mythical beasts.
What could possibly go wrong?