Vhalos, lost in his magic, watched as the spell swam into focus within his crystal ball. Images of his aspirations coming to life before him. The smoky pictures of what was to come flashed and filled with color as they blurred into existence. His hands gripped the crystal ball tighter, leaning in closer for a better look.
“Where is she? I must find her.”
The possibilities of his greatest triumph were within reach, and he could already taste the sweetness of victory. If only he could find...the key...She was the final ingredient missing from the universe bending to his will.
He watched as the magic revealed the outlines of the continent, closing in on a more prominent place. Lands passed by like time, getting ever closer to the final destination. Finally, his vision burst through a hazy sky, acreage, and landscapes pouring into view. Splotches of color took on more definite shapes as it moved closer still. Forrest animals, big and small, took shape, giving clues of location. There it was, an eagle-eye view from Karlear Mountain, the place he sought-Forrest Keep.
“Ah-ha!” he yelled. “The key to my future.”
****
Evrah stood, shaking from head to toe, in a white-hot rage at the scene before her. Here, in the view of the eagle's nest atop Karlear Mountain, trapped with no way to lend aid to the destruction in front of her.
Forrest Keep, a once busy town so full of peace, but no longer. A place of vibrant villagers turned to nothing but scattering ants, running and screaming for their lives. Death upon wings had descended from the stars, setting everything ablaze. It was horrific to behold. Nothing was untouched by fire. Grand buildings that once stood as inspiration and hope, now reduced to burning rubble, crumbling to ash, crashing onto the ground, burying everything in their path. Shops and houses exploded, propelling people like shrapnel into their neighbors and out among the bloody cobblestones. Bending trees, slamming the ground as an unnatural wind, commanded their will, spreading more flame and fanning the smoke.
Evrah's throat burned from her unheard screams of terror as she pleaded and begged for the horror to stop, for her friends to find safety, and for her need to help. She paced like a caged animal, looking for a way around the burning tundra of chaos that blocked her way into the village.
Her fists bled from beating the ground as she was forced to watch the devastation of her people. Screaming children, lost, scared, and crying for the comfort and safety of their parents' protective arms. Parents and elderly clinging to their dead or searching in vain for lost loved ones. Wives, bent over still bodies of husbands and children, cursing the winged death above them. Husbands carrying lifeless bodies of wives, children, and the elderly, in search of refuge. Some fell to the ground, while others staggered in confusion and fear, unsure of what to do. Many, lost in the madness of chaos, like headless chickens, ran about, searching for safety that wouldn't be found.
The decimation of wings was only the beginning. Round two came in the form of the Army of Darkness, covered in armor and brandishing crude weapons. A walking demolition for as far as the eye could see. The soldiers were a more formidable force than that of the flaming danger above them, feeding and devouring the fear of the innocent.
Her whole life and everyone she knew, drowning in pandemonium. Her world, as she knew it, nothing but ash and flame, was ending, and there was nothing she could do to stop it but she was still going to try. Her fingers were shredded, skin and nails from trying to scale the side of the mountain, in search of a way down to her people. Her clothes were torn, exposing flesh to the heat of the war.
She spotted a small, narrow cliff that looked as if it led to the lake below, and she quickly slid, half-climbed from her perch to the ledge underneath. Her backside and boots, sliding against the harsh, sharp rocks, felt as if they were digging into her flesh, but they weren't enough to stop her. She had spotted a way out, and she was taking it, even if it meant certain death.
Her boots finally landed on solid ground, and she moved carefully sideways, making her way along the narrowness of the path. It was slow going and treacherous, but it was progress. Movement in the direction of aid and away from the capture of helplessness. It was also a distraction from the vividly agonizing images she knew she would revisit in her nightmares.