Elestar

Fire and fur and bloody, burning houses—if I close my eyes, this is what I can see, two red eyes staring right at me.

I could not wrap my head around what was happening. "What happened here?" I whispered, my voice quaking.

It was as if my feet were nailed to the ground. I was frozen in place, paralyzed by indecision after what I'd just witnessed transpire.

The very loud roar of the fire could be heard at the far end of the village, where I was, even as the heat singed my flesh. Blood and the charred smell of wood were heavy in the air. 

[What happened to them? Why is there blood everywhere?]

I saw the bodies on the ground—some were being mauled by dogs—and I could hear women screaming, in pain or simple fear. 

[What is happening?]

At the head of the street was what appeared to be a person… a person with two bull-like horns protruding from his forehead… and red eyes, eyes that bored through the smoke and blazed like embers.

In its hand, it grasped a long spear, pointing it at someone who was lying in the dust. And then, in the haze, I sighted who lay stretched on the ground—it was Hans.

[What is it planning to do?]

The bloodshot eyes sluggishly shifted to me. Its eyes cut through me like thin blades through air.

But I can feel the sweat running down me in cold streams.

I looked back at it, and I knew what the thing was. It was a demon—the one that the old stories used to tell kids about in order to make them frightened.

The demon looked me up and down and whistled. The moment that sound resounded, the dogs in the house merely stopped.

Then they started pouring onto the main street. 

[What happened to the dogs?]

I was paralyzed with fear as I watched, unable to help.

My face went white, no color in it whatsoever. My mouth was all clagged up, my tongue might as well have been stuck to the roof of my mouth, and my lips were so dry they hardly could quiver, though try they did to utter a single word.

Then, the demon whistled again. All the dogs on the block swung their heads in my direction.

My heart dropped. Something was going to happen—I just knew it.

The dogs began running at me a moment later. My hand flew up in an instinctive, dismissive wave when I saw them. But it was useless.

All of a sudden, I could hear the sound of my mother's panicking scream echoing from someplace nearby.

"RUN!"

Then she took my hand and had me follow behind her. I hadn't even seen when she had walked in.

I could feel nothing but her cold, shaking hand and the snarling dogs coming behind us.

I glanced back for an instant as we ran—and saw the hounds of the demon coming after us.

Even in the course of our run I could easily recall her now, looking back several times over her shoulder as she ran.

She clutched my hand—clung to my hand in such a tight grip it was like she'd never release it.

I could feel that she was not afraid for herself…but was afraid for me.

So that's why she'd been running as fast as she could, holding on to me for dear life.

She kept looking behind us to make sure the dogs weren't catching up.

Yet I… I still couldn't wrap my head around it. I was still frozen in terror from having witnessed the demon perform its deeds myself.

But soon enough, my thinking started to catch up with the reality. I began to catch on.

"Where are we going?" I asked, panting.

"To the river—we can get away down it," she answered.

She took me into the woods to the river. She hoped to leap into the river and escape while the demons halted for me.

We were almost there—just a little more and we would make it.

Running, I heard every word my mother muttered under her breath. She prayed nonstop.

"Just a little bit more, please, God… Just a little bit more…"

Farther in we could hear some running water, and finally the river itself appeared.

My mother's face lit up.

"We made it! We'll survive!"

She looked at me, her face breaking into a relieved smile, and said:

"Attu, one more step and—"

But the expression on her face suddenly turned to one of abject terror. 

[Has the demon caught up to us?]

I glanced over my shoulder. The demon was still in the distance…but it had raised its arm, it was going to throw the spear right at me.

My mother saw it too. And about two strides from the river, she suddenly stopped and ran up behind me.

[Why did she stop? What's happening?]

I looked at her, confused. It didn't take me very long to get it.

The spear's impellers shot back, and the demon had thrown its spear… and my mother.

She had jumped in front to protect me with her body.

[No… not just that!]

She had thrown herself onto me to save me. Moments before the javelin would have hit, she shoved me into the river.

She was right there at the bank, my mother, grinning as always, gasping with tears running down her face.

The spear of the demon came in behind and left through her stomach.

I watched it happen. I saw the light die in her eyes.

And something within me… started to burn. Anger. Grief. Helplessness. I couldn't do anything. I could only watch. And despite that something in me that still said I should get up, I did not have the strength.

All I could do… was scream.

"MOTHER!"

And with that last wail, I went down into the icy, roaring river of spring.

And it was then that I knew—this was morning now, how it had started.