Chapter 26: Chapter 26

“The Oracle said: don’t go out on the plains alone,” said Noel.

“Stick to large hunting parties. The larger the better,” I added.

Starry nodded. “All the monsters are gone. You don’t need to see the future to realize the starred monster will have to start hunting elves soon.”

“Maybe we should go to the highlands after all,” said Vell. “We could even stand guard around the mountain pass leading up to the highlands. It will be much easier to defend against a single, large monster up there than down here. We could be attacked from any side.”

“Wait,” I said quickly. “The Oracle said we should wait a few more days!”

Starry raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t the Oracle want us to leave for the highlands instead of fighting the monster? Why does she want us to stay now?”

“It’s because,” began Noel, “she thinks she might see something important soon. In a vision or prophetic dream. Cas and I need to stay here too. She needs us for a few more days so we can—”

Was she going to tell them about our magic already? “She needs us so we can help her with her prophecy. We’ve been helping her with it for the past week or so. Mostly involves standing near her while she looks into our destinies or something. Pretty boring stuff, really.”

Starry and Vell seemed unconvinced, but they didn’t have much choice. By staying on the Plains for so long, they had already depleted their food reserves too much. Besides, if the Oracle said she had a plan, the elders would cling to that thread of hope for as long as they could.

“I still don’t like the two of you going to the Oracle’s haunt alone,” said Starry. “I don’t see how an escort party would interfere with the Oracle’s work. We don’t even need as many people to go scouting anymore since this monster is clearly avoiding us. Let us send them with you, at least for part of the way.”

Honestly, what he was saying made sense. Having an escort party wouldn’t even interfere with our magic training, since we could always tell them something like: ‘this is as far as the Oracle will allow you to go!’ They would believe it, I was sure. We could also reveal our magical abilities and try to train the elves. We were far along in our training that we could begin to help other people.

Noel looked at me. She’d been feeling scared for the past few days. In fact, I was scared too! If the starred monster was going to start hunting elves, it would obviously want to go for the ones that were relatively alone. I know I’d told Starry the monster only wanted to hunt big prey, and that a couple of tiny elves wouldn’t be worth its time, but I had no idea if that was true or not! I didn’t even know if we could hide from it or outrun it any better than we could the Farro Bird.

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“It’ll be fine,” I said, with a smile and a laugh. I clenched my fists when I looked at Noel. After spending entire days practicing magic, I felt a sort of power leaking through my fingertips. I knew I wasn’t invincible or anything, but I was sure Noel and I could take better care of ourselves than any escort party cobbled together by the elders. In fact, it might be harder to fight while trying to protect them. Even if we couldn’t defeat the monster, I was sure we’d be able to run to safety.

We left the camp near dawn, as usual. We made our way to our training area and trained hard all day until just before sunset. We’d been staying later and later, egged on by our desire to get stronger and defeat the one starred monster as well as the mysterious Oracle. When the sun touched the horizon, I wiped the sweat off my brow and called out to Noel. Sparks flew around her as she finished making rings in the air with her fire magic. She was breathing heavily, panting for breath just like I was.

The pond water used to be kind of murky, but we’d cleaned it up as best we could. We wiped off with the water, and some leaves and rags, and talked about how we would reveal our magical powers once the elves found the starred monster. We’d lead a team of hunters, surround the beast, and defeat it with our magic! We weren’t master tacticians, but that sounded like a plan that could work. If we could observe the monster first, learn its habits and weaknesses, we could avoid any unnecessary danger, especially for the elves that didn’t know magic.

It was getting darker by the minute. Noel and I began to make our way back to the camp. The sun was still setting but the moon and stars had already starting peeking out from behind the veil of burning dusk. No leaves rustled, because the wind was still. No animals appeared from the edge of our vision, no monsters peered from within bushes or treetops. Even the insects were silent.

We came upon a stream, about halfway back to camp. The sound of water cascading over smooth stones and jagged rocks was the only sound for miles. It felt so loud against the silence, we couldn’t even hear our own hearts beating. I stood at the edge of the stream, ready to tiptoe across. Water splashed on my face. I wiped it off with a hand, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu.

I looked up and saw a familiar, but unwelcome, face. A massive Faro Bird glared at us from the treetops near the banks of the stream. Half of its body was charred black, stretched out in a circle from its back. The tips of its wings and the outline of its eyelids glowed crimson, like a smoldering coal in the middle of a campfire.

A bright red star sat on the monster’s forehead, nestled in the feathers right above its eyes. The monster’s star glowed in the same hue as the red star in the sky above. It was the same red star that joined the moon in the supernatural events we had experienced near the large tree where we met the birds. And just like then, the red star on the monster’s forehead seemed to glow, inexplicably, with malice and hatred.

Noel and I had prepared for all kinds of situations. If the monster ambushed us, I would harass it with my magic while Noel prepared a large ball of fire. If it attacked the village, we would work with Sharun and the other hunts to slowly whittle it down. And if it was the kind of monster we couldn’t hope to fight, we would run away while casting magic behind us. We even considered burning down the forest to cover our tracks. I was even prepared to hold the monster back by myself to allow Noel and the others a chance to escape. But clearly, we hadn’t been prepared for the sheer terror that comes with actually facing a powerful, ruthless monster.

Noel and I stayed still. The monster had clearly seen us. It might even have been stalking us for a while, waiting for us to be out in the open so it could pounce. It narrowed its eyes and lowered its head. Noel grabbed me and jumped back into the forest, hoping the trees would shield us from its attack.

The Farro Bird sliced a dozen trees in two. Leaves fell around us like hail. Trunks and branches smashed into the ground. Noel and I hugged a large stump, which shielded us from the worst of the carnage, but covered us in a splash of canopy. Through a gap in the leaves, I saw the Farro bird perch on a treetop, lean back, and send a piercing screech into the sky. Flames spewed from its beak, embers flew from its wings, and sparks spun like a halo around its body, as it slowly turned its head, and met my gaze.

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