Chapter 225 - Burden Of The Beast (1/2)

Cerest was an angelic blight on the idyllic scene, Chang Chang thought. She could see how anyone, man or woman, human or elf, would be taken with him. His face, in its symmetry, was more beautiful than any she'd ever seen. He motioned to her family, his face bright with exhilaration.

The camp broke up. Chang Wei left the venison smoking in the grass. Her mother scooped her younger self up in her arms and tossed her over one shoulder. Her delighted squeals trailed away down the hill toward the tower.

Don't do it. Don't go. Stay, and be with me always. Chang Chang got to her feet and followed her family. She tried to run, but the tower seemed always at a safe distance from her footsteps, and no shout would reach the ears of the living memories before her.

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she was inside the tower, just as she had been in every nightmare that had haunted her from childhood.

This time, she was no spectator. She resided in the body of her younger self. She could feel the cool ground beneath her b.a.r.e feet, and the shadows swirling around her had form and substance. They were her family. Her father was taking scrapings from the brittle stone walls and placing them in vials on his belt. Her mother was chanting in an undertone, her hands on the spine of what had once been a massive tome. The spine was all that remained. Her mother's eyes were closed. Yellow light encircled her fingers.

Her mother—a wizard! Chang Chang couldn't believe it. Her mother had carried the gift of the Art, and Chang Chang had inherited it. Gods, how much her mother could have taught her, guided her, if she had lived to see to her daughter's tutelage.

”Be cautious,” said a voice.

The sudden interruption jarred Chang Chang from her thoughts. She looked to see who had spoken and saw Chang Wei standing next to her mother.

”It's all right,” her mother said. She touched Chang Wei's arm. ”I sense no pockets here. Cerest was right. The plague has abandoned this place. Have you found anything?” she asked, addressing her husband.

”Where's Cerest gone to?” Chang Wei asked.

”I think he's putting out the campfire,” her mother said. She touched Chang Wei's cheek affectionately. ”I expect we forgot to douse it in our excitement.”

Chang Chang only half-listened to the rest of the conversation; her attention was caught by the ruined book. She got on her knees and turned her head to see the letters on the spine. They were outlined in blue fire, the edges of the script blurring and fluttering like wings on a dying butterfly.

As she watched, the flames punctured the leather binding, leaving blackened curls in their wake. The smell of charred leather rose in her nostrils. She looked up, and saw that her mother was watching the book too. Her eyes widened, and the color drained from her lovely face.

Chang Chang, hampered by her younger body, could not get to her mother. She tripped over a pile of wood and fell. Her face caught the sunlight coming from a gaping hole in the tower ceiling. The light beating down was too intense. The ground had been cold only a breath ago, yet everywhere around her she felt heat. It was like she'd stepped into the middle of the campfire.

”Chang Chang.”

She heard her mother's voice. It had never sounded like that before. With a child's certainty and an a.d.u.l.t's memory, Chang Chang knew this was the end.

The spellplague pocket, awakened by her mother's simple magic, swirled to life from the rafters of the ruined tower ceiling. A cerulean cloud that looked like a tiny, confined thunderstorm, it crawled along the walls, finding cracks in the stone and exploding them, spraying shards of rock on the helpless people below.

Someone was at her side, hauling her roughly under a cloak.

”Get her out!” she heard her mother scream. Then her voice faded. Chang Chang was running, running on legs that didn't belong to her. Chang Wei had picked her up. The blue fire was everywhere—in her eyes, her mouth. She was blind. She couldn't see either of her parents.

They broke free into daylight, but the blue fire wasn't done with them. It stretched out hungry tendrils and snared her hair and her arms. Chang Wei dropped her to the grass.

She started to cry. The heat was too intense. It was the worst sunburn she'd ever had. Her flesh should be melting from her bones. She heard Chang Wei next to her, screaming. She reached for him, but she couldn't touch him. The blue light was everywhere. There were other screams, shouts her young mind couldn't comprehend but that the a.d.u.l.t Chang Chang recognized as the Yaoan language.

Cerest was nearby, crying out in agony. His beautiful face was melting and being reforged into something new, a visage that more closely matched his soul. Chang Chang curled up in a ball on the grass and waited for it to be over. She didn't care if she died, as long as the pain stopped.

Oblivion came, sweeping its cool hand across her body. She was resting in a dark place. She wanted to sleep there forever. To wake was to re-enter that world of horrid pain.