Luna

  When Father and Mr. Bxen began walking to the door, I dipped below the front window, and for a split second, I swore I saw Mr. Bxen gnce my way. Heart beating, I tried to duck beneath the frosted bush, yet my skirt kept fluffing out, and I cursed and pulled it back in as the door opened.

  “Ah shit, it’s bloody cold. I hope you bundled up well.” I heard my father as the two men stepped outside.

  I turned around carefully and peeked out from behind the snow-covered bush, only to regret it as my eyes locked with the rge lizard man’s. His mouth parted slightly, revealing his carnivorous teeth, which shook me to the bone. Back in my prior life as an overweight nerd, I always thought dragonborn and lizard folk were cool, but that was fantasy and art. To see them in the flesh was horrific. This was like meeting a Jurassic Park velociraptor; something about him was just… uncanny. Like some prehistoric piece of my brain was screaming for me to run away.

  God, I probably sound like a racist. The point is, the guy was freaky and seeing him smile at me sent me whirling back behind the bush in utter fear. My tiny little heart was beating so fast that I thought it was going to rupture. Did he know I was listening in?

  When Madam Soza, Varis and I came outside, we went over to see Mr. Bxen’s nd strider, and speaking of velociraptors, well, nd striders looked like goddamn allosauruses. At least I could thank my former, dinosaur-obsessed child self for remembering that name. To say I made sure to stay as far away as I could would be an understatement, and while Varis kept poking the proverbial bear and Madam Soza was trying to stop him from getting eaten, I made the usual child excuse, tugging on Soza’s dress and asking her to go to the little girl’s room.

  Trusting that I wouldn’t get lost going to the outhouse, Soza allowed me to venture off on my own. Now, I’ll be honest: I wasn’t entirely lying. I did have to use the bathroom. But I also wanted to take a peek at what was happening in the house, and you know, if I got caught… pusible deniability. God, being a child again makes getting out of trouble so easy.

  Well, when I got back to the house to listen, I didn’t expect to hear what I heard. Despite my fear of Mr. Bxen, the man seemed genuine. But I’d never heard Mother get so angry. Unlike my old mother, Cailynn was always pleasant. She could be strict and stern, but even the few times I got in trouble, she’d never raise her voice or swear—not like she did just a few minutes ago.

  It was genuinely scary. What did Mr. Bxen do to make her so mad? She mentioned a person named Cyrus dying. Who was Cyrus? Who were Mom and Dad? So many questions, and I’d never asked a single one.

  My brother Matthew’s son, Mason, was six. Well, he was probably twelve now, but… back then, the little bastard was always asking questions, and I would humor the kid and answer them. That was a mistake. After that, he would never shut up.

  Having experienced that as an adult, I knew how frustrating it was. So, as a present to my new parents, I didn’t do that. Mom and Dad were Mom and Dad, and I was just me. The only person I asked questions was Madam Soza. Aside from that, I was reading in my room and maybe goofing off with Varis.

  Outside of not having videos games, my new life was just like my old life… goddammit.

  “I forgot to mention, Slyran,” Mr. Bxen snarled.

  “Aye, what is it?” I watched my father’s back move towards Soza, who was yanking Varis away just before the strider could headbutt him.

  “Your children,” Mr. Bxen said with a light chuckle as he walked behind. “They’re adorable.” He gnced back over his shoulder, his swirling purple eyes catching sight of me as I yelped, jolted away, and ran behind the house.

  No, I am not going to talk about the new experience that was using the restroom as a girl. Any of you who thought I was going to are sick. I too like my privacy. Besides, all that’s different is positioning. Anyway.

  Having relieved myself in the outhouse, I stepped out with a pleasant sigh. What I witnessed was still heavy on my mind. I hadn’t heard everything; they’d moved from the living room to the kitchen, and the kitchen windows didn’t have bushes for me to hide behind. All I knew was that Mr. Bxen had grave news, and Father had convinced Mother to see it.

  Yet from a distance, I had seen Mr. Bxen show them documents from a folder, and serious looks on all their faces.

  Maybe I could ask Mom about it? Well, she won’t even tell me what’s in there. I turned towards the cabin a few dozen feet away. I was tempted to try and infiltrate it now, but if I got caught, that would just make everything worse.

  Well, just like the cabin, it couldn’t hurt to at least ask. Besides, if my mother was upset, maybe seeing my proven-adorable face could get her to lighten up. So hey, two birds, one stone. Oh, oh! Then after I cheered her up, I could ease her into allowing me to see the cabin! Perfect. This pn could not fail. Operation Cuteness Overload II was ready to begin.

  With the new pn ready, I made my way back around the house to the front yard. That was when it happened.

  A shrill cry made my blood run cold. My heart seized, and I saw a vision: a convenience store, people running, a man pointing a gun. Another cry set my hands trembling, and I gritted my teeth as a third shriek hit my ears.

  My heart smmed against my chest, beating heavily in my ears. I could hear a sound, a noise, like static from a television. The pain in my back, the blood in my mouth. I could feel it, taste it. My breathing was ragged, I tried to suck in air, yet I couldn’t. My knees buckled. I was dying.

  Oh god, I was dying.

  I was going to die again.

  What was happening? The static was growing louder, and my heart was beating more rapidly. I was choking for air. Darkness loomed around me at the edges of my vision. I could feel a weight I had never noticed before pressing down on me, confining around me.

  Another shriek followed by a door smming open. The crack of wood on wood sent me reeling back into the freezing snow. Shouts and yells could be heard from the front wn. The sounds crescendoed, and I covered my ears, rolled over onto my stomach, and pushed myself to my knees.

  I had to run. Run far away, to hide. Last time, I didn’t, and I died. No, never. Never. I wasn’t going to do this again. I wouldn’t. There was another shout from the front wn, my mother swearing and cursing.

  The outhouse. I would go and wait there. That’s where Soza would expect me. That’s where I would be safe. Safe and alone. Better safe than sorry.

  I threw open the outhouse door, stumbled inside, pulled it shut, and locked it. My heart thudded in my ears, and the static buzzed indefinitely. I clenched my eyes shut and sniffled. I was okay, I tried to tell myself. I was overreacting. I knew this was just my weird child’s emotions. This had to be. Right? Never before had this happened. So why now? Why was I panicking now?

  And what was that noise? It was real, right? The static, the loud heart. The… a new sound, a steady beep. What was that sound? It was steady, like my heart. It was quieter but higher-pitched, and why, why did it make me terrified?

  I was now trembling, my hands sweaty, my mouth dry. I sat back on the toilet and hugged myself, my feet pulled up onto the seat, knees on my chest. What was happening? What’s going on? I’m just imagining things. I have to be; there’s no way what I hear is real.

  Except. I could hear it. The beep alongside my heart. The static of a television. Why did I hear these things—

  There was a knock at the outhouse door. Immediately, the sounds I heard ceased, save for the terrified beating of my own heart. How long have I been in here? The shouting outside was gone. Silence remained.

  “Luna?” Madam Soza’s concerned voice came from the other side. “Are you in here?”

  I sniffed and wiped at my eyes. “Y-Yeah,” I stammered.

  “Are you alright?” she asked, her voice soothing me.

  I almost opened my mouth to say I was but stopped. I gritted my teeth and shook my head before realizing she couldn’t see me. “No,” I said. “I’m scared. Why is everyone fighting?”

  Silence. Then Soza said, “Luna, are you able to step out?”

  I hesitated. Then, after a moment of thought, I knew I would be safe. Madam Soza was here now; I wasn’t alone. The sounds were gone. Maybe I had just imagined them? I took a deep breath, stood up, and unlocked the door.

  Squinting my eyes as the bright snow blinded me, I stepped outside. Madam Soza had stepped off to the side, giving me space as I closed the door. “Here,” she said, holding her hand out to me, and I took it. “I’ll expin as we go inside. It’s freezing out here.”

  I sniffed and nodded as I allowed her to guide me.

  My mind swam as I sat inside our home, wrapped in bnkets Isa had given to me. Varis had provoked Mr. Bxen’s strider and gotten hurt when trying to py with it, which had sent Mother into a tirade, and both Father and Isa had to fight to calm her down. Yet during all of that, I was cowering in the outhouse… God I was a terrible sibling. My brother was hurt, and I ran away?

  “Ouch, ow, argh!” Varis gasped from atop the kitchen counter as Soza looked over his left arm. I was at the table with my mother, who was bundled up in bnkets like me. “It hurts; I can barely move it!” he whined as Soza gently lowered his arm.

  “It looks to be broken,” Soza said softly, looking at Mother. “Do you have anything we can use to splint this? Or should I prepare to take him down to the physician’s office?”

  Broken? I cringed and defted. What was wrong with me? I’d never acted like this before. Something inside me stirred, like a little voice screaming. I took a deep breath and stifled it. I just hadn’t heard my brother in that much pain. His cry was horrifying. I wasn’t ready for it. That was it, probably: hearing that triggered me, but now I knew.

  Mother closed her eyes before burying her face in the bnkets to sneeze. Pulling her face tiredly back out, she said, “I have scrolls of healing in the cabin and in the healer’s kit on the wall behind you.” She gnced at Varis. “Give Momma a few moments, dearie, and I’ll get your arm fixed.”

  Soza blinked. “Are you sure, Cailynn? I know those can be expen—”

  Mother shook her head. “If his arm is as bad as you said, then I’d rather use a scroll.”

  My ears perked up and gradually my mood lightened at the prospect of magic. Really, I’m going to get to see magic again!

  She shifted in pce, trying to warm herself up, before finally standing up with her bnkets draped around her. Eager to see this firsthand, I began to follow her, but Father stopped me, resting his hand on my head.

  “Stay back, little one,” he said in a hushed voice, kneeling. “It’s better to see this further away; you don’t want to accidentally interrupt her.”

  Mother gestured for Soza to move back, then whispered to Varis, too quiet for me to hear, as she examined his arm. It was bruising heavily around the elbow. My stomach churned, and I bit my lip as Mother tapped his arm searching for where it hurt the most.

  Varis gasped sharply when she found the fracture. She straightened up and went over to the healer’s kit hanging on the wall. You should ask questions, I thought, just like your old nephew Mason used to do.

  “What is Mother doing, Father?”

  His mustache lifted as he smiled faintly. “She’s helping your brother; inside that bag is one of your mother’s special scrolls,” he said gruffly, and nodded towards Mother.

  “Like a magic scroll?” I said, pying dumber than I was.

  “Yep, a magic scroll that can heal almost anything,” he said whimsically. He was definitely pying it up, yet I noticed something off. Like he was trying too hard.

  I made a mental note not to press him on it. Instead, I pyed along, I tapped my chin in thought. See, you’re already learning stuff. I got a keyword there: “almost.”

  “But if it’s magic, can’t it do anything?” I asked Father, who snorted and shook his head.

  His whimsical attitude was dropped. “No, sweetie. If we elves and other Enorans could do anything with magic, then Merlin and Margon would be out of a job. Magic can do a lot, but even it has its limitations,” he expined. Mother walked over to Varis with a scroll and began to unroll it.

  Merlin and Margon? I thought. I recalled Soza mentioning them; I’d seen their names since I started digging through my mother and father’s books. If memory served me right, they were…

  “Those are gods, right?”

  “Yep, the two gods of magic. Merlin the Bookkeeper and Margon the Hammerer.”

  Mother began to chant softly. The lights in the room dimmed as the scroll before her emitted a faint green light. Rings of green essence dripped down from the scroll like wet ink to her feet, forming a glowing circle of runes and arcane imagery around them. From these runes, petals of light like little fireflies danced up into the air as if caught in an upward draft, and I stared wide-eyed along with Varis, who seemed to have forgotten his pain.

  Still chanting, she lifted her left arm and reached out to Varis for a moment before pnting it on his head. Her eyes became nothing but green light before she finally finished with…

  “Rejuvenate.” Varis froze as his entire body shimmered. The bruising on his arm was fading, something beneath the skin shifting. Just as Mother released his head, the scroll in her other hand shriveled and crumpled into magical dust, which evaporated into nothing. Leaving the room filled with small wisps of light that danced all around us before eventually fading into nothing.

  “Whoooa!” Varis moved his once-broken arm around with ease.

  Madam Soza’s eyes widened, and she reached out to stop him, but Mother held a hand between them. “He is fine, Isa.” She smiled. “Rejuvenate was enough to get him back to normal.” She pced her hands on her hips proudly.

  “That’s amazing,” I muttered, and Father chuckled and stood up before roughly tousling my hair.

  “That’s your mother for you,” he said. “A skilled user of magic!”

  “Slyran, don’t go spouting nonsense!” she huffed. I could see the faint blush on her cheeks, though that could’ve been her still recovering from the cold.

  Father stepped past me. “What? It’s not like they were never going to find out sooner or ter…” He pulled Mother into a tight side hug and sighed before looking to Varis. “How are you feeling, boy?”

  “Good as new!” Varis beamed. “I was scared I wasn’t going to be able to py outside anymore.”

  Father paused before smirking and nodding. “C-Come here, boy.” His voice faltered for a moment before he cleared his throat and broadened his smile.

  Varis hopped off the counter, and with his big hand, Father pulled him into his hug with Mother before looking over his shoulder. “You too, Luna. It’s family hug time!” He ughed, yet something about it felt empty. Something wasn’t right.

  But I didn’t want to keep him waiting, so without a moment’s hesitation, I ran over and wrapped my small arms around their legs.

  “That includes you, Isa,” Mother said, and the serelli woman, surprised, blushed before smiling and coming over.

  Father coughed as we all hugged it out. “Tomorrow,” he said. “Luna, Varis, I want you two to meet me in the backyard when the sun rises.”

  “Why so early?” Varis asked.

  “Because I want to show you both something.” With that, we all released one another. The air in the room felt much lighter. “But right now, how about we all go out to eat tonight? I heard the Yogi’s Maw is serving a magnificent steak this evening.”

  “Yaaay!” Varis practically squealed, and my eyes widened. It wasn’t often that we ate in town, and the st time we went to the Yogi’s Maw, Mother compined about how expensive it was.

  “But what about school?” I asked, and Varis stared daggers at me.

  Madam Soza spoke up. “I think it is best we call off school today.” She smiled at us, and Varis fist-pumped.

  “Agreed,” Father said. “Now, go on, you two. Get changed into something more proper. We leave in thirty!”

  They’re all gone. Taken and twisted. The people of Urwitch had been absorbed by his bck armies. The elderly, women, and children- they spared nobody. Instead, they became one with him. Demons they now were, the Oni. All who stood before them would soon be beside them, devouring us all. Baren judge me, for I cannot go on.

  —Records of the Twilight War, chapter 5: The Bck Curse.