Dreameater, Part Three

My eyes stung, half with tears and half with the smoke roiling off the burning wreckage of my home. Snow fell lazily through the smoke, landing on my shoulders and dusting my hair.

I knelt in the front yard, gazing into the unearthly crimson flames that consumed my house and roared like an angry giant. I hadn't made it back in time to help any of them; I wasn't smart enough or fast enough. Tears ran runnels thought the ash on my face and fell to the snow, glinting mockingly in the reflected firelight.

As I sat there, deep in despair, a warm hand touched my shoulder. It was big and strong and squeezed my shoulder with a firm and reassuring grip.

"Isaac," said a man's voice I barely remembered, "Are you hurt? Are you okay?"

My heart leapt at the sound, "Dad?"

"I'm here." My father said.

"Dad!" I exclaimed, leaping to my feet, "You came back! I knew you would come back! You've got to help me, Mom's still inside!"

I looked at him in the glow of my burning house. He was tall, so much taller than I was, with dark hair and a weathered face creased with laugh lines. He seemed powerful and strong as he pulled me close in an embrace that made everything a little better.

"I've got her; she's safe." He said, strength and surety in his voice.

He let me go and I hastily tried to scrub my face with the heel of my palm. He smiled down at me in the creeping crimson firelight. I looked back at my home. Red flames licked at the windows and smoke poured out of every crack or opening. Crashes and moans of straining timber broke the quiet of the night as the house died.

We stood there watching, Dad's hand on my shoulder. The house let out a sudden, terrible howl as the flames roared louder and higher. A tremendous noise of cracking wood and shattering glass deafened us as the house began to collapse. It crashed inward, the ground shaking like it was rocked by an earthquake. Smoke, ash, and dust billowed out in a wave, blinding and choking me.

I could hardly see through my watering vision, but I thought I could make out a shape in the eerie red flames. It was huge, whatever it was, rising from the wreckage of the house in a heap of matted fur and wicked claws.

I felt the hand on my shoulder grip painfully tight with fear as the blood-red flames showed us the shape of the hulking beast. Its body reflected the firelight with a greasy sheen, hard chitinous plates rasping over one another along its oddly jointed legs and its broad chest. Quill-like fur, black tips jagged and sharp, covered its back and neck in a leonine mane while its face was that of a hyena with curving rams horns.

Its eyes were burning with a baleful yellow light and they searched around until they landed on me. Smoldering timber cracked under its claws as it freed itself from the burning house. It barked a grating hyena-laugh which hit me like a physical blow, making me flinch away.

Leaden, icy fear dropped into my gut, turning my sweat cold and rooting me to the spot. My mind shrieked at my legs to run, but they weren't listening. The creature in the flames had mostly freed itself and its eyes were dreadful and hungry.

The thing's mouth worked around one hissing word, "Emrysss…"

Blood thundered in my ears and my voice came out in a broken whisper, "Run. Dad, we have to run."

I began to turn to run, but the hand on my shoulder clamped down painfully, fingernails biting into my skin. I looked back to my father, but he was gone. In his place stood a black-hooded figure, with hungry amber eyes and rows of crooked teeth. The hand he held me with was gaunt and skeletal, its fingers unnaturally long. The cloak he wore seemed to be made of roiling shadow that crept off of him like a mist.

The nightmare creature in the house sounded its keening hiss behind me, "Emrysss…"

"We meet once again, Emrys," the hooded figure's voice rumbled low and menacing, "You are most gracious to call on me a second time."

"Let go of me!" I screamed and struggled against the vice-grip hand he held me with.

"I cannot, for one more taste of your Power and I shall be able to break free of you," it said, "While your mind is quite the delicacy, I yearn for a much… wider sampling."

I couldn't think. My mind was blind with panic. I fought against the hooded man, punching and screaming, but it didn't do any good. In the corners of my vision, the demon in the ashes of my burnt-out house rose to its full height and let out a baying cry to the full winter moon.

"Do you like it?" sneered the cloaked man, "It is me. And not me. It will make a fine vessel once I break free."

My fight or flight response was in full control now, and my body had chosen flight. A white hot anger burned next to my leaden fear. Anger for my home, anger for my father, and anger for myself. I had to escape somehow.

My fists struck out again, my efforts renewed against the oncoming monster and thing holding me. My anger became focused and powerful. I opened my hand and aimed for his chest. My blood was like thunder, burning in my veins as I struck him. Azure light flashed out from my hand and the air cracked and filled with the smell of ozone.

The light seared my eyes as a blast of lightning as thick as my wrist lanced into the shadowed man, tearing into the misty cloak like a bullet through wet paper. The stygian-black form burned away from the bolt like paper held to a flame. The cadaverous hand let me free and the thing wailed in pain, its cry like a hundred voices sounding at once. At the same time, the demon in the flames let out a drowning whine like a dog that had been kicked. I fell to my knees, reeling from the sonic assault, with my hands to my ears. The shadowed man was reeling back, cloak in tatters and the edges glowing with the blue light.

I took one look and bolted. I ran as fast as I could, away from the shadowed man and away from the burnt wreck of my house. Barren farm fields stretched for miles opposite my house and I took off across them like a hunted rabbit. I ran hard across the frozen field, the full moon casting an ethereal glow to light my path.

Behind me, a cry of rage and frustration rent the air. I put on more speed, sprinting with everything my legs could muster. My lungs burned from sucking in the bitter winter air and the muscles in my legs screamed as they pounded the hard earth and dead plants. I had to go somewhere, but I couldn't think of where.

The ground under me began to shake with monstrous footsteps as I ran. I risked a glance over my shoulder to see the hyena-creature loping after me on all fours, its quills shaking in a death rattle of bone on bone. It ran like a malformed gorilla, arms reaching out, grabbing the ground, and swinging its legs forward in a distance-eating gait. It was closing on me and there was nothing I could do to outrun this minivan-sized monstrosity.

My mind raced furiously and my eyes searched around frantically. I berated myself for a fool as I ran across the open field, almost devoid of cover. I thought of the lightning that burned away the cloaked thing. If only I could call it again.

I sprinted for all I was worth and was a good distance away from the house, but the monster still pounded after me, getting closer. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, quick and panicked.

Over it all, came a voice like ice water dripping down my spine, "You think you can destroy my vessel? I was unprepared the first time, but your spellwork will not save you again."

I grit my teeth and tried to ignore the voice of the shadow-cloak.

"I think," said the grinding voice, "I think I will hold you and consume every precious thought you've ever had before leaving you a mindless husk. Perhaps…I will start with memories of your father."

At these words, I fumbled and caught my foot on a stone I had been meaning to avoid. I fell hard on the ground, scraping my hands and forearms raw as I tried to catch myself. I knew I should get up and start running again, but my legs felt numb and lame. I could feel hot tears of fear and frustration on my face as I struggled to my knees.

I looked up to see the hyena-faced demon bearing down on me, eyes alight with malign fire. The moon glinted off long talons that dug furrows in the frozen earth as it moved in its scrambling run. I couldn't get away this time. I was looking at my death in the face, and boy, was it ugly.

A grim clarity overtook me as I staggered to my feet to meet it. The fear was still there, like a choking ice around my heart, but I was only dimly aware of it. It was dwarfed by a cold anger that suffused me. It seemed to gather around me like a cloak, and I wrapped myself tighter in it, giving me the will for action.

An ululating roar of triumph ripped from the beast's throat as it closed in, twenty yards away. I knew I would only be able to try and call the lightning once, but I didn't care. I knew with an unwavering certainty that I could do it. I raised my arms, hands splayed wide, and focused my fury on the thing chasing me.

Only fifteen feet away, the demon leapt at me with claws outstretched and jaws wide. I screamed a wordless cry and felt a rush of Power. Heat and sound hit me with physical force as the air cracked with blinding light and cascading thunder. The bolt of lightning lanced out and struck the creature mid-air, knocking it to the ground. The stink of ozone mixed with searing flesh filled the air as I poured all of my fear and anger into the living lightning.

My blood sang with Power in my ears and I felt the surge of victory as the demon went down under my torrent of light and fury. The feeling quickly changed when the beast rose and took a labored step toward me, pushing against my Power. I threw more of myself into the lightning and energy crashed out of me like water from a broken dam.

It took another step toward me. And another.

I cried in rage and frustration, my muscles beginning to twitch and spasm. My chest seemed to be on fire with the effort of the lightning, which was a bright arc between me and the creature. Another step. The energy caromed off the demon in brilliant streamers. Another step. One more and the thing would have me. The creature's blackened face let out a grating hyena bark and a manic laugh sounded next to my ear.

"You are mine, wizardling! Your Power is mine!"

I sank to my knees unable to stop channeling the Power. I had set something in motion that I couldn't control.

Clawed feet took that final step. The maniacal laughter grew louder and louder until it drowned out all else. Everything seemed to shake as the creature reached for me. I sobbed in fear and anger and the world's shaking grew. Taloned fingers wrapped around me like steel bands, picking me up so I was face to face with the demon.

"Mine," the thing hissed through rows of crazed teeth.

Its jaws opened and they seemed big enough to swallow me whole.

I cringed away, energy still pouring from me, but the tearing teeth never came. A blow hit me hard across the face, like a slap, and my eyes snapped open. Bright sunlight stabbed into my eyes and I cried out. I doubled over, a wrenching feeling coming from deep down. I wretched and vomited painfully, like I was trying to heave up all my insides. Black, oily smoke burst forth from my mouth, nose, and eyes with a screeching howl.

On and on, the smoke boiled out of me. It roiled and pooled, coalescing into a monstrous form. Quilled fur, wicked talons, and greasy armor plates hardened out of the black smoke. Curving horns sprouted from a huge hyena head, whose eyes burned a lurid, noxious yellow.

Memories flooded back to me, I knew where I was and what was happening. My mind and body felt drained and sluggish. I tried to move, but firm hands pinned my arms to the ground. I tried to speak, but my voice cracked and stuck in my throat. I could make out the rapidly shifting forms of Sam and Johanna as they took on their werewolf war-forms and I could feel Naomi trying to drag me away.

The demon roared its battle cry, exultant in its freedom. It moved fast. Faster than anything I'd seen before. It swatted the harrying forms of the wolf twins away contemptuously as the werewolf twins engaged the horrible creature.

I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything. I was helpless.