3 Chapter One - 2 || Magic Within (1/2)
Every inch of her body pricked like a thousands needles, the cells themselves seeming to jumpstart in fright and flight.
Her body twisted instinctively in the direction of the forest behind her. The first rule of escaping giant bears: climb a tree.
However, the trees had bark too smooth to climb and were so enormously tall with no low lying branches.
In distress, she glanced behind her, and seeing the monster a few bounds away from her, she felt as if her soul had left her once more.
The demonic bear had crossed the distance between them in mere seconds, and she was stuck on the ground like a lame duck.
Sensing capture, the beast hurtled at her at a frightening acceleration. There was no means of escape. The girl's heart dropped.
'I thought this was a beautiful dream, but it became a nightmare instead?!' Her thoughts shrieked. 'I'm not even here ten minutes and I'm going to die?! What the heck?! I don't want to die young~!!!'
The demonic bear loomed over her, crashing down upon—
…
'Asdfjkl;?!?!!!'
'I'm alive?!!'
The girl inhaled sharply. A translucent lavender barrier glimmered between her forearm and the bear's forepaw.
'Did I just create that?'
Just as that thought passed her mind in astonishment, the demon-bear was unexpectedly flung backward, upheaving grass shoots and dirt in its wake.
The wall had not only protected her, it shoved her attacker back by an intense invisible force.
As the bear staggered up from the ground, the girl noticed glinting lavender flecks surrounding it. She wondered if those particles of light were connected to the transparent shield that appeared a second before.
Still astounded by the turn of events, she stared dazedly at her right arm where the pale purple shield had been centered around.
Slowly, her mind pieced the events together,and she gripped her fist, willing the shield to appear again. This spurred a faint warmth that began flooding her entire arm.
However, before she could process this reaction, the monster bellowed its ire with glowing red eyes more hostile than ever.
Trepidation arose in her gut, but as if it was the most natural action to do in the world, she intuitively directed her hand at the monster, releasing a flurry of lavender light streaking towards its chest.
A glimmer of panic flared in the beast's eyes before the light struck it dead on, singeing its chest fur and causing it to crumple inwards. The monster made a strangled, sputtering sound, as if knocked out of air. It glowered at the gaping girl and took a step back.
The black tendrils arising from its body grew larger and more numerous. They circled the body in agitation. The monster's eyes radiated a garish scarlet, the color leaking out in tendrils just like its shaggy fur. It was as if the beast was creating a black tornado with trailing threads of blood.
Despite seeing the coming storm, the girl felt strangely calm. Everything clicked. She was no longer in the earthly world. She was in an ancient woodland with soaring trees, spirits and demons. She had magical power. A monster stood before her. A furious monster.
She smirked.
'Ha.'
The beast charged forward, and the girl swiped her hand in the air across its incoming, barreling body. An inscrutable expression suffused her face as vivid, lavender light like a knife sprang centimeters from her palm straight toward the demon.
It slashed the monstrous bear, leaving a horizontal slit that glowed blood red. Its body was cut, and yet despite the cut's red color, it didn't bleed. Even so, the attack was obviously felt as the demon roared in pain and rage.
Pondering upon this, the girl deduced that the biology of this world was different. The injury was simple and neat, nothing messy like spilled blood or ripped flesh.