The Legend Of Black Eyes

Wind swept through the newly open cavity and blew people"s hair and clothes away. A woman shrieked as her long skirt was lifted up above her head, revealing her undergarments for all to see.

People laughed, but immediately realized the danger they were in. A table got swept through the main hall, crashed against a man and elevated him toward the triangular ceiling. Both of them hit the ceiling with terrible crunching and crashing noises. The man fell down with the rubble, bloodied and lifeless.

It took three people to push the door against the raging wind, and lock it. The rest of got busy closing the window shutters. The doors and windows rattled dangerously as the wind beat against them. Those who were too late to seek shelter were blown away. They would land later, miles away, in a patch of green gra.s.s or on top of a fence. They shared the same fate nonetheless, death.

The wind howled through the night. Celestial roars reached people"s ears despite the raging winds. The roars gradually increased in both volume and intensity. Then came flashes of light that illuminated the deserted streets one second, and plunged the world into chaos the next.

Stefan looked around him. People were whispering frantically, talking about the end of the world. A woman or two would scream everytime thunder boomed above them. The ground shook and the barricaded doors whined and complained against the wind"s relentless attacks. Stefan diverted his gaze toward the ceiling.

The triangular roof of the country inn shook as well. The building would come down if the storm didn"t subside. He hurried to his room in the ground floor and locked himself in. He should"ve heeded the young lady"s warnings. Heda wasn"t one to make mistakes. Then again, she could be trying to kill him.

The moment they arrived to the village, Heda ordered the horses released. She also advised the driver to get to a room in the ground floor and lock himself in. They weren"t to leave their rooms until sunrise. She never gave such precise instructions before.

Stefan couldn"t help but think: "What if?"

The young lady must have finally realized she could do well alone. She ordered the horses to be freed, so that n.o.body could track her. She"s locked them both in, so that they"d suffocate under the rubble when the buildings come down. Thunder roared again and the walls shook. Stefan winced as lightning flashed against his window.

He forgot to close the shutters. Gla.s.s rumbled dangerously. The windows on this side of the bulding didn"t suffer the same pressure the others did. He had to close the shutters before disaster hit. He was rushing to close the shutters when thunder roared again. The gla.s.s shattered and wind howled against the mage"s face.

He winced as gla.s.s shards flew past him, cutting his right leg and left shoulder open, but he endured. He cast a barrier around him and fought against the raging wind to reach the shutters. He didn"t want any other shard to surprise him. One accident is all it takes to take a man"s life.

As he reached a grim conclusion, lightning fell, illuminating the world outside. Stefan had reached the shutters then, and was struggling to push them down. If he had paid attention to the street outside, he would"ve seen a red haired, slender lady, walking through the storm. She"d just met with another woman, as tall as she was, and they both headed for the village"s exit.

The raging winds didn"t trouble them.  Their clothes didn"t even flutter as they rushed through the streets, heading north.

In the meantime, Stefan was grunting, struggling against the strong winds. He felt powerless. He was fighting against the forces of nature, the forces that dictated everything around them, the forces that used magic constantly, the forces that, if asked nicely, can provide one with extradordinary powers.

Nature consumed essence. In turn, it either gave life or took it away.

Borrow from your own essence, and offer it to nature, asking for her a.s.sistance to bend the world to your will. If nature"s satisfied with your offering, and clear will, your wish could be granted. If nature feels grumpy however, like tonight, then your wish might turn against you. Or, in rare occasions, you might achieve greater things than you could have ever imagined.

The shutters wouldn"t come down no matter how much Stefan struggled. Some dangling gla.s.s shards from the window threatened to fly at him at any given moment. If he gave up on closing the thing, the entire room might collapse, perhaps even the inn after that. Going outside meant being blown away by the merciless winds.

He hoped against hope that Heda"s advice was to keep him alive, not kill him. The way he saw it, he was a dead man already. He decided to gamble on Heda"s warnings and close the shutters. If he stayed inside, he might yet live to see another day. He extended his will towards the raging wind, trying to communicate with it.

The trick was to let your essence flow outward slowly. Let it get blown by the wind. Let it scatter in the air, attract nature"s attention, get her to answer a man"s desperate flea. The storm raged and howled even louder.

The wind blew faster, stronger. Something sc.r.a.ped against Stefan"s right cheekbone. It stung, and he was probably bleeding. He didn"t know, however, if it were a gla.s.s shard or the actual wind that cut him.

He lost control of his essence then. He panicked for a fraction of a second and lost control. He exuded more essence than he intended, and nature heeded his desperate call. He felt its destructive, raw power inside him. There was no rage or malice behind it though. It was there to fulfill its mission then move along.

He felt the storm raging inside him now. He knew he had something important to do, but he could no longer remember what it was. In his mind"s eye, Stefan could see fields of poppies being blown away. Droplets of water started falling north of here. They"d soon reach the village, and add mudslides to the disaster.

He saw two shapes standing by the village"s entrance. They had their arms raised and they were chanting something. He recognized the language. It had that rough explosions in the vowels. He liked hearing that language. It reminded him of the First Days.  

The two shapes were asking him to grant a wish, but not one to save their lives or create some hideous mutation. They were asking for an unbreakable bond that only nature could provide. They wanted their strengths to combine, their souls to bond. They wanted to think like one, although they were two individuals. Inside their souls, Stefan could feel two fedgeling Fragments. They were completely embedded in each soul, but their powers were yet to grow, evolve.

They wanted the impossible, but had no ill intent toward him. The language they spoke confirmed their strong wills too. Stefan smiled. A small part of him now knew that he was dead. Nature had taken over his body, experiencing the world from a mortal"s perspective.

He had but seconds until nature left him, and his body would become dust. He smiled, although he knew it wasn"t him smiling. He looked around, swung his arms and rotated them. He bent his knees several times, looking at them intently all the while. When he was done staring at his knees, he began fixating his hands with fascination.

"Interesting little things," he heard himself say. "Let"s test this frail cage."

He closed his eyes and located the two shapely figures. When he opened his eyes, Stefan was standing in front of them. No wind or rain touched him or the two ladies. He looked at them, then extended his hands forward. Heda looked at the mage and smiled. She met the man"s hand and shook it. The other woman looked at Heda for a while before she sighed then imitated her.

"Isn"t he your mage?" she asked Heda.

"A temporary vessel for a complicated spell," Heda said.

The woman"s lips parted in a happy grin, revealing pearly white teeth. She understood Heda"s insinuations.

"The price then," Stefan said to the ladies.

"We want a blood pact, an unbreakable pact," Heda said. "Only blood can pay for blood."

"Indeed," Stefan answered. "But what you"re asking for isn"t paid by a fresh liver, or a warrior"s heart. This blood pact requires more beating flesh than you think."

"We understand," the second woman said.

"I am Lady Heda La Baptiste," Heda said. "My lord father had bequeathed me this part of land when I was born. The people who live here are sworn by oath to serve me. Does this mean I have ownership over their lives?"

"By the ancient laws instaured by the previous Holus winner, you do," Stefan answered.

Stefan, the human one, understood what Heda was planning then. Nature, on the other hand, didn"t care what Heda had in store for the villagers. Heda had played him for a fool. She used him to get to Friede then discarded him like a dog. He couldn"t even feel frustrated as nature had dulled his ability to feel already.

"Then I offer you every villager of this town," Heda said. "Take them all, and make people talk about mighty nature again. Make them remember that no matter how strong they can get, nature will always prevail."

Stefan felt his lips curve into a smile. "Very well," he said. "I"ll take my payment first."

"Be my guest," Heda said with a vicious smile.