章 8: 2.3 A Grim Reminder

My heart pounded in my chest as the situation put my brain into overdrive. Was it an animal? An enemy? Some form of magical creature? I had too little information for me to work with at the moment. Whatever it was, it wouldn't do for me to be defenseless while Mother took point.

Taking initiative, I brandished my bow and nocked an arrow between my fingers, my eyes desperately scanning our surroundings as I followed Mother's lead through the large rocks that seemed to be providing us some cover.

"What're we hiding from?" I whispered to her as I carefully followed her through the cracks.

"I'll explain later," Mother hissed, her tone deathly silent as she gestured towards another large rock. "Just follow my lead."

I nodded as we slowly made our way towards another outcrop of rocks; the inclined terrain giving us natural cover from any kind of attack from down the slope.

*tap... tap...*

The sound of tumbling pebbles stopped us in our tracks. I raised my bow down towards the source of the sound, ready to let loose at the first sign of movement. Beside me, Mother crouched down on the ground, her body tensing up for an attack. We waited...

And waited...

....

And wai-

*Clunk*

There!

With a speed I never knew I possessed, I adjusted my aim just slightly to the left and let loose. My arrow flew with remarkable aim, lodging itself directly on the rock that was covering its would-be target. Mother stayed vigilant beside me, our eyes planted firmly on my arrow's general direction as we waited for any sign of movement.

*tap.. tap... Woosh!*

A large raven emerged from behind the rock, its wings flapping with a force that moved the smaller rocks underneath it.

I chuckled soundlessly at the situation. We were scared of a bird? Has paranoia gone too fa-

*KRAKATHOOM!*

What was that?!

Before I could even blink, a bright light streaked from another outcrop of rocks just beside my arrow. A sound akin to thunderous lightning boomed through my ears, a white blur rushing straight at our location before I could even respond.

*CLANG!!*

I could barely even see as a resounding clash of metal echoed throughout the air. The peculiar smell of burning ozone reached my nose as I blinked away the bright spots from my eyes.

*CLANG!! WHOOSH!!*

My heart pounded as fast as it could possibly go as I shakily reached for another arrow to nock at my bow. I-I couldn't even begin to describe just how quickly everything happened in front of me.

She'd shown me her fire powers for all but one time; back when I was still eight years old all those years ago. While I had asked her to teach me, she adamantly denied that I'd have any form of fire powers. Or any other form of magic aside from what I could use during smithing. She told me that Zahlers were the only ones capable of wielding the elements, and that me having Seigel Wesen meant that I was already a Nenner.

*CLANG!! WHOOSH!! CRACK!!*

Sparks of clashing metal. A streak of fiery red flames. A bolt of lightning shooting from the moving figure in black.

I half-marveled, half-stared in horror at the sight before me as the beautiful display of magic danced on the makeshift battlefield. I strained my eyes at the sight, finding Mother crossing blades with what I assumed to be another Zahler in black clothing.

*CLANG!!*

The two combatants disengaged in favor of establishing distance from one another. Mother gripped her red-hot sword on one hand, her stance a refined form of what she's been teaching me. Her opponent meanwhile held a dagger, its edge crackling with white electricity as they crouched lower to the ground. I froze as the figure then turned their head towards me, electric-blue eyes glinting with sadistic glee as I locked eyes with the dangerous figure.

*KRAKATHOOM!!*

My eyes widened as the figure turned into a streak of white lighting barreling towards me. Time seemed to slow down as I sat helplessly in the face of my impending demise.

Was this how I was going to die again? Being burnt to a crisp by someone I didn't even know?

*CLANG!!*

A resounding clang reverberated as I shielded my eyes from the bright sparks in front of me.

"Rouge!" Mother? "Get out of here!"

I rushed to get my eyes open only to see that my mother was standing in front of me, both of her hands supporting her sword in front of her as our attacker seemed to struggle to break through her guard. Crackles of electricity sparked on the figure's dagger as it tried to push the flaming sword away from its path, both Mother and our assailant breathing heavily through their teeth as their clash became a battle of who could overpower the other.

I found myself looking back to the bow in my hand, the arrow I nocked earlier still in its place as I tried to contain my breath. Mother was fighting someone... an enemy that validated my thoughts from all those years ago. I've trained for this moment for years, but now that it was here...

Could I even do anything?

*SHIIIING!*

"Rouge!" I heard my Mother yell, the sliding screech of metal on metal making her words stand out against the cacophony of noise. "What're you doing?! Go!!"

I couldn't even hear what Mother was yelling to me anymore as I stared intently at the bow in my hand. My heart pounded in my ears as I shakily raised my weapon to aim. Judging from the speed in which the figure zipped in and out of combat, the logical voice inside me yelled that what I was doing would only get Mother and I killed... That I was far from being skilled enough to even hit a moving target, let alone someone as fast as lightning. But even so...

*CLANG!!! CLANG!! WHOOSH!!*

"Rouge!!"

I had to try. I didn't train for nothing. I was going to pull my weight.

With a short breath, I released the bowstring from my fingers, the arrow immediately flying towards what I hoped to be my target.

*CRACK!*

I watched in silent horror as the arrow broke into pieces mid-flight as an arc of lightning cut it in two. Both Mother and her opponent quickly looked to my general direction, the former with the same look of horror on my face while the figure looked at me with an amused glee. It was then that they finally pulled down the mask obscuring his face, revealing a toothed grin as he smirked at me.

"So..." the lighting-wielding figure began as he twirled his dagger in his palm. "The Flamme has a son~"

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛