The Gate of Shadows

In my path, chaos awaited anyone unfortunate to be near me, or so I thought. There was no way for me to know how far the shadowy beasts were traveling. If the sky was their limit, it was crimson until the horizon before me.  

It wasn’t long until others of the Cerberus order arrived to bring serenity, only to fall at their deadly talons. None of them knew what was happening or what to expect when arriving on the scene. Most of the first line were elves, humans, and other witches/warlocks who were utterly ignorant of the state of things.

The vampires hadn’t yet arrived, and Lycans had been assembling for the birthday party more profound in the town. We were far from the headquarters of Cerberus, down by the lower sector of Silverant, where all trade occurred thanks to its docks.

Where is it? I must stay away.

It was a futile wish; it didn’t matter how far away I was. The field of energy radiating from me was expanding to places I couldn’t perceive. No matter where Fenris was, eventually, death would reach him.

Stella called it a pristine start, but these beings took no prisoners. They would have crushed the coven if they hadn’t fled. Part of me wished they would search for and eliminate them either way. If anyone had to perish, they were the ones who deserved it the most.

My distress was fueling them to attack further and more viciously. It was almost as if my fear became part of theirs. The once gorgeous streets of Silverant were coated in blood, and buildings were destroyed as the Cerberus officers tried to protect everyone they could.

The brave tried to vacate the innocent, struggling to keep the beasts at bay. Sadly, any blunder they made was their last. With each death I witnessed, the more hazardous I became. I cried at the top of my lungs for them to stop, but it was as if I hadn’t said anything.

These soldiers fearlessly tried to reach the energy pulses’ core, unaware I was the origin. No one who saw me survived to warn them. Much to everyone’s horror, a gust of wind picked up, almost as if I were a hurricane.

Buildings disintegrated because of the powerful gusts that ate anything in their path. Struggling to keep up, my orbs searched for anything to stop the ensuing mayhem. The feline helped me take agonizing steps to stay away from Fenris.

With every second that passed, disarray followed, leaving me weeping while clutching onto the cat’s fur. From outside the storm, screams of agony and dread filled my surroundings. With the change in the weather, all the incoming monsters blended with the scenery, turning them into more dangerous foes.

The storm made it hard for those in battle to determine what direction they would attack from. It also destroyed the little cover protecting the fighters, leaving them with little hope of hiding from these beings who ravished the town without mercy.

Every time I closed my eyes, I could see what these shadowy beasts were doing in the distance. It was almost as if I saw through their eyes and heard through them. It wasn’t long before the vampires arrived at the ensuing war.

They were the only ones who could rival the Lycans’ power. A black-haired woman was the first to jump into the middle of the storm. The moment she came through, it was like a rocket aimed straight at the core of the problem: me.

When she was a few lengths away, a dark beast’s hand came out of me, colliding with her rapier and snapping it in half. For a slight moment, our eyes met. Upon seeing a child in the middle of the disaster, her deep red eyes widened to total capacity.

Without hesitation, she withdrew immediately from the storm surrounding me. Her moves were swift and elegant, much like a dancer on her stage. Even though her action took her far from me, thanks to the beasts everywhere, I could hear her from where she stood in the distance.

“There’s a child in there!” the female vampire reported to someone near her.

Ah... They know where you are! Run!

I wanted to scream, but my voice lacked my strength anymore.

“A child? Impossible. This is ridiculous. How can a kid do this?” another comrade questioned.

However, before they discussed it any further, a feeling grew within me. Another enormous energy pulse was coming from within, triggering me to lose it. My vocal cords finally found the energy they needed to sing.

“No! Run! Get out of here! Something’s coming!” I shrieked, not knowing if they could hear my poor, hoarse voice through the roaring winds.

Like Lycans, vampires were known for their superb hearing, so I hoped my warning had reached them. My face remained stained by tears as I remained inconsolable. Sadly, there was no controlling the storm this had become or what would happen next.

The deadly gusts of wind slowly died, causing my body to levitate along with the protective feline, who circled me. Throbs pulsed through my body, triggering my back to grow hotter with each one.

A shadowy behemoth with spikes on its body emerged from me, slightly fading the radiation. It was the first one of this size, probably bigger than a regular house, with horns more prominent than banned hovercrafts only found in hybrid lands.

Its tail was thick and short, though what was deadly about these demons were their teeth and claws used to rip anyone apart. A protective blue barrier sprouted around me when it charged toward the voices.

Please... No more...

Even though I never wanted to be a murderer, it was all I was becoming. The realization that all of this was my fault broke me down, leaving me sobbing loudly. The behemoth charged the vampire and her comrades without mercy, only to be met in kind.

The woman heard my warning, allowing her enough time to create a blood barrier around them. Her swift defense forcefully repelled the demon, saving them from getting trampled. Vampires couldn’t cast magic alone but could control the blood around them.

On a battlefield surrounded by this substance, they were the apex of predators. In retaliation, she sent a flurry of blood spikes towards it, impaling it right where it fell. It would’ve been a swift victory if the demon was impenetrable to damage.

These shadowy monsters were immortal. Nothing they had tried could take them down; the only things possible were imprisoning or slowing them down.

The beast also had the ally of the sun, wearing down the vampires' abilities. The sisters planned everything perfectly, including the rays of the star that warmed our world. Luckily, the woman wasn’t alone as more of them arrived at the source of everything.

“Why must we do all the work? Where the fuck are the Lycans?” another vampire joined the female one.

This one had white hair and was unwilling to work, but in an unforgiving battlefield, that wasn’t ignored.

“Keep your mind on the game!” The woman hissed, struggling to keep the beast at bay. “Forget the wolves! We have to keep the citizens safe!”

He scoffed at her attempt to make their intentions noble.

“You mentioned over the comms there’s a child stuck in that orb, right? I’ll finish this in a second.” The cocky male vampire raised his hands in front of him, producing blood to accumulate near it.

“Stand down! She’s just a child!” With fear in her voice, the female vampire yelled.

He disregarded her words, forming a spike, before sending it hurtling toward me at blinding speeds. My eyes couldn’t perceive it; however, before it even came close to touching me, the feline that cradled me in its protective light stretched its body faster than the projectile.

In a blink of an eye, she snapped the cocky vampire in half, gulping him down like a snack she had picked out. Everyone around stood there, eyes wide open as the feline monster shrunk back in size. Silence filled the air since everything began, allowing the gravity of our situation to sink in.

This cat was on an entirely different level from the other demons. My orbs couldn’t shift away from her, preventing me from noticing the entrance of the Lycans, who finally arrived later than expected.  A loud noise was the only thing that caused my orbs to be torn away from her.

When I saw their shimmering silver hair, I screamed incoherently, unable to process who they were, breaking everything into pure discord. From behind me emerged an army of those shadow beings from tiny to ginormous.

A second later, everything went blank, and I found myself in a white room surrounded by nothing. There were no voices in my head, either. It was just me, free of aches and blood. Since this began, there was time to breathe and think.

“Everything… Was it a dream?” I mumbled, slowly rising onto my feet.

The only thing that stopped me from moving forward was when my wrist began shimmering crimson, my only connection to my radiant light.