“Ladies and gentlemen! Our judges have finished deliberating! Remember, along with taste, the dish chosen also must also follow today’s theme.”
Elen shifts in her seat. The tension in the air palpable and she remembers every time when she’s looked up the casting list to see if she’s participating in a show. ‘I hope that Áine wins this. She truly does love doing this.’
The announcer is handed an envelope and opens it. “And the winner is… Áine Freesia Daher!”
The students and even some of the older people in the audience applaud, though they look like they’re sucking on about five pounds of lemons. The only one who’s clapping in earnest besides Elen and Salacia is one older woman who she sees has the same smile as Áine.
‘She must be a family member.’ It’ll be hard to get Áine alone since she’s won and will be swarmed with people. How will they—
Elen’s distracted by a light at her waist. She lifts her vest up enough to see the Brooch shining on her waistband. Oh, crap! The last time this happened was at Salacia’s meet.
“Sal! We need to go!” Elen takes her bag from under her seat and stands as everyone else does the same. Salacia, however, is still just sitting in her seat with a stunned look on her face. “Sal! Come on! We need to get out of here!” She puts a hand on Salacia’s shoulder and decides to give her aura a tiny shock. It has the desired effect as Salacia jumps like she’d been electrocuted and looks to Elen. “I think a beast is going to show up soon. You’ve got your Brooch?”
Salacia gasps. “Oh, yeah! I do.”
“Good. Let’s go!”
With a nod, they leave the room and run off in the opposite direction until they’re in an unused observation deck with drawn curtains. Elen unpins her Brooch and Salacia takes hers out of her bag, holding them close to their chests.
“By My Will, So Mote It Be!”
The two transform and peek behind the curtains to keep an eye on the kitchen area. There doesn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Áine is holding up her trophy while being congratulated, and she hugs the old woman who has the same smile.
Elen glances at Salacia who’s once again looking at Áine. “Aqua, go look outside. Maybe the beast is coming from there.”
Salacia grumbles but goes to the hallway. Elen desperately hopes that it’s just her paranoia getting the better of her. Still, the “hope for the best but prepare for the worst” mindset has gotten her out of trouble more than once.
“Psyche! Here it comes!”
Elen doesn’t have a moment to brace herself as she feels tremors and sees glass flying into the kitchen. She swallows down bile, seeing that the beast now has a viper for a tail, paws like a crocodile, and teeth that resemble a shark’s while still keeping to a wolf-like body. ‘It's like some sick chimera.’
She’s brought back when she hears the first screams from below. There’s no time to be horrified. So Elen summons her wand and bashes the window before she and Salacia jump down in front of the snarling beast. It’s even uglier up close and Elen is absolutely not eager to fight this thing.
“What the—?!”
“Who are these girls?!”
“What are cosplayers doing here?!”
‘Yeah. I know what it looks like. You don’t need to actually say it.’ Elen shoots her wand at the beast, effectively brings its attention to her. “Aqua, get everyone out of here!”
Salacia nods and begins to herd the terrified people out of the room. “Out this way! Don’t crowd! Everything will be okay, but you need to get out of here quickly! Woah!” She leaps up and dodges the viper-tail crashing against the counter she was standing on. With a swipe of her own wand, Salacia freezes the viper head.
But where’s Áine? They need her to transform and help kill this thing.
The beast sails through the air from Elen’s attacks to where the crowd is. It’s looking for something. It swipes at one of the stations, destroys it, sending the debris flying in almost a deliberate way.
Salacia sees exactly what it’s aiming at, and hears Áine’s screams as she slips in a pool of water. Salacia waves her wand again, conjuring a wall of ice to stop the wood, metal and various kitchen tools from hitting Áine. She grabs Áine around her shoulders to save her from falling down and hitting her head on the floor. ‘Oh. There’s yellow around her irises.’ Salacia grins. “Wish I could say it’s good to see you again.”
What’s going on?! What’s that monster? And who are those girls fighting it? They look so familiar though. Had she seen them before?
No. Áine can’t think about that right now. ‘Where’s Teta?’ She scans the crowd frantically trying to run away. ‘I need to find her and—‘
*CRASH*
“AAAHHH!”
Áine loses her balance as the monster destroys one of the stations. Even her nonslip shoes don’t help her when she steps on a pipe and begins to fall backwards. She closes her eyes, braces for impact.
She doesn’t feel the ground but instead an arm around her shoulders. Áine sucks in a breath before she opens her eyes to see one of those girls, the one in blue, holding her up. Even in this kind of situation, Áine can’t help thinking that her eyes are quite possibly the most beautiful silver color she’s ever seen.
The girl grins. “Wish I could say it’s good to see you again.”
That voice. Áine has only heard it once before but she would recognize it anywhere. “Sal?”
The grin falters. But Áine doesn’t have a chance to think about that as the girl in black shoots her wand at the monster. “Aqua, get her somewhere safe and take over for me!”
‘Elen?’
With a nod, Salacia scoops Áine into her arms and leaps behind one of the stations. She deposits her on the ground before erecting a spiked wall of ice. Elen lands next to them, and Salacia flashes her a reassuring smile before jumping into the fray again.
Elen takes a breath before crouching down in front of Áine and a light flashes in her hand. The light clears and in her hand are the two cards, one of them transforming into the triple moon Brooch with a red gem and Elen hands it and the wand card over. “Look, I know this sounds crazy, and I was really hoping we wouldn't have to do it this way, but we need your help fighting this thing.”
Áine looks at the items, then at Elen. When she turns, Áine seizes her hand. “Wait!” Elen looks back, sees Áine trembling and tears in the corners of her eyes. “I… I had a vision. I don’t know if it was the past or the future, but there was a terrible battle. Do you think this is part of it?”
Elen pauses. Visions and fate and all that crap. 'I'm so tired of hearing it.’ She clenches her wand and wishes she could feel just a little pain to distract herself. “I don't know. I don’t want to stake my future on something so unreliable as a vision. And I hate the idea of ‘fate’ as if it's the only thing that matters. I’d rather make my own choices outside of such constraints.”
It’s something that Áine has tried so many times, defying what her visions show her. But she’s never succeeded in it. As if fate itself is written in stone. Why, then, does Áine think that if anyone can it’s Elen? This person who she’s only met once before and spoken just a few words and who makes her chest heat like a furnace?
*BOOM*
They look up as the beast slams into a wall. The viper tail had broken free from the ice while Elen and Áine were talking and it tries to strike at Salacia who’s jumping around like a frog escaping from a preditor. Salacia shoots out more ice and water, but the beast apparently has the gills to accompany the shark's teeth and powers through to finally catch her in its claws.
“Shit!” Elen escapes from Áine’s grasp and jumps to slash at the beast. It takes off one of the toes and Elen shoots her power into its mouth. The beast charges at the two, hitting Elen in the leg with one of its rows of teeth and she springs back. ‘I don’t wanna know whether or not my leg will grow back with Magick if it’s taken off.’
Áine breathes heavily. The blood splattering. A body crumbling… Does she have the power to stop this? Help them? She grits her teeth and holds the Brooch close. ‘Alright. One more time.’
“By My Will, So Mote It Be!”
Áine transforms and the card immediately shifts into her wand, a red one topped with a tetrahedron. She bounds into action as she swings her wand to release her Magick. The salamanders crash into the viper-tail, flambéing it to ash as the beast bays miserably. It rolls around in an attempt to put out the flames from its body but only succeeds in lighting up and smashing the rest of the kitchen.
“Put out the fires and we’ll take care of the rest!”
“Got it, Psyche!” Salacia sprays her Magick to the near-inferno levels of flames around the kitchen as Elen next to Áine faces the writhing beast.
Elen holds up her wand, Áine following suit. “Aim at the chest. That’s it’s weak point.”
With a nod, they both activate their Magick. The butterflies and salamanders twist and twine as they hit the beast. It takes less time to cut it open, and the flames engulf the sphere until it cracks and breaks like glass. The beast crouches down, shaking and whining as it vaporizes into nothingness.
It’s almost eerie how quiet it is. The deafening silence broken only by the girls’ heavy breathing.
‘We won,’ Áine thinks. She smiles, wide enough that it almost hurts. ‘We won!’
“Hurray!”
Áine nearly falls over as Salacia wraps her arms around her middle. She laughs as she holds her back. The touch is comforting. Warm. “Are you always like this?”
“Always,” Elen replies.
Áine looks around, grimacing at the carnage in the wake of the battle. “What do we do about the damage?”
Elen also makes a face. “Flee the scene of the crime and pray we weren’t recognized. We need to regroup somewhere.”
“Can I go to my Teta first? She’s probably freaking out looking for me right about now.”
“That’s fine. I’ll tell Rick and the others that we’ll get there tomorrow. Let’s meet up at this district’s train station first thing in the afternoon.”
Almost reluctantly, Áine pulls away from Salacia’s embrace and steps back to transform back. She begins to run out of the room to join the evacuated group, but looks back to see Elen and Salacia escaping through the bashed windows.
‘Maybe this time, I’ll be able to change the future.’
Áine smiles before exiting the kitchen.
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