Elian stepped back and swallowed a little nervously at the gun pointed at his head. "I thought you might need a partner."
"Why?"
"Those things are many and very vicious, too, so we should stick together. We'll stand a chance against them together than alone, right?"
The girl scoffed. "I think you mean to say that you need a partner."
"Maybe... Yes." Elian admitted. "It's not such a bad idea, is it?"
"In case you hadn't noticed, I work alone, so beat it!"
"You might really need my help," Elian said a little desperately.
The girl gave him a scathing look. "I would rather die before actually needing your help. Now scram! I don't have the time to babysit anyone."
She made a shooing motion with her hands and started to walk away again.
Elian took two stumbling steps after her. "Okay. Fine. Even if you don't need my help, let me come with you at least."
"No. You're dead weight. And stop following me!"
Elian followed her still, keeping a few paces from her in case she got really angry and decided to take a shot at him.
"I know you don't think you need my help," he said after a pause. "But I have so many skills that —"
His words died when she suddenly stopped walking, and he almost collided with her. She slowly looked around like she was looking out for something or someone.
"Why did you stop? Did —" She slapped a hand over his mouth, silencing him.
Her eyes widened as she looked around, and in a whisper, she said, "Shhhhhh. They are here."
"Who is here?" Elian asked, also in a whisper.
She turned to look at him like he was stupid, then rolled her eyes.
"I was right," she said. "You have to be the most stupid –"
Suddenly, two bird creatures landed before them, cutting off her words. One of them, with a wound in its side, looked like the one she had shot at earlier.
In a flash, she pulled her gun, her eyes fixed on the birds with burning intensity.
Elian felt like his heart had lodged somewhere in his throat. He wasn't ready to face those birds again, not after he had barely survived their previous attack.
But then, he looked at her. She stood tall, her eyes locked on the birds and her fingers gripping the gun confidently.
Something inside him shifted. Shame, admiration and a sudden spark of courage mingled in his chest. If this strange girl he met minutes ago could be ready to fight and die with such confidence, he could do the same.
"Do you have two guns?" he whispered.
"No! And stop talking!" she snapped.
She slowly began to back away. Elian followed her lead. At that moment, a loud thud came from behind them. Elian whipped around in time to see two more of the creatures descend.
Now, they were surrounded. They'd come to finish him off for good.
The creatures, sensing that they had them cornered, began to slowly edge forward. They weren't making a sound now. The street was so silent that Elian and the girl could have been the only two people in the world.
The creature with the wound was in the lead. Its evil red eyes, oozing some sort of pus or blood, were fixed on the girl.
We're surrounded," Elian croaked.
"No shit!" she hissed, cocking her gun.
She and Elian, careful not to make sudden movements, moved gradually backwards until their backs touched. Together, they turned at a 360 angle, looking to see if they could find some escape route, although they both knew there was none.
Somehow, they had to find a way to fight four of these things. But it didn't look like they could. Nobody could.
She nudged Elian gently.
"Can you use a sword?" she asked.
"No."
"There's four of them and two of us, and then you don't even know how to use a sword." A lock of her hair tickled Elian's cheek as she shook her head. "There's no scenario where we survive this."
Elian had the sudden flash of an idea, one that was unlikely to succeed but an idea all the same. "Can you run? Like really fast?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because I have a plan. I'll distract them, and then you run to safety-"
Elian broke off. The creatures had started circling them. Now sure they had them at their mercy, they didn't seem to be in a hurry to finish them off.
To Elian, they seemed to be... playing with their food.
"You really think you can distract four of these things?" the girl asked, her voice dripping with scorn. "You wouldn't last a second. Neither would I."
"I'm trying to save you!" Elian snapped.
He was quickly growing tired of her shooting down his ideas without a second thought, even though their lives were literally on the line.
"You can't save me, so stop trying!" She continued as Elian was about to say something else. "All you can do right now is to die like a hero. Take one of them with you if you can."
Before the last word was out of her mouth, she raised her gun and fired at the creature in front of her. The others let out loud squawks, and their dark eyes gleamed.
Her gun went off again, throwing the creatures into confusion, but it was only for a moment. Sensing that Elian was unarmed, they charged at him.
Elian's arms went up to shield his face. He staggered back, letting out scream after scream as he felt thick, leathery wings knock him down. The sound of a large beak snapping shut filled his ears, blotting out everything else, even the sound of his own screams and then...
And then nothing.
He could still hear the squawks of the creatures, but they sounded far away.
How was that even possible?
Was he already dead? Did they kill him that fast?
Elian opened eyes he wasn't even aware he had closed, just in time to see fierce air surging out from both his hands.
But what overwhelmed him was the absence of the birds that attacked them. They were gone, leaving no trace they had attacked except the rippling dust around them.
Elian's hands trembled as he turned to the girl, hoping for answers. What did she do? He couldn't have possibly sent those creatures away himself.
The girl was on her knees with her gun pointed at Elian and staring at him as if he had suddenly grown two heads.
"What the fuck was that?" she gasped.
Elian's mind raced. She looked surprised, and that wasn't the face of someone who had just done what he saw.
There had to be a rational, logical explanation for it anyway.
"What the fuck was what?" Elian asked. "Whe–where are those birds? Di–did we scare them off?"
The girl took a step back, and Elian realized she was scared of him. She wasn't surprised, no, she was terrified.
"How did you do that?" She took another step back. Then she looked back, scanning the area, getting ready to run for it. "Who are you?"
"I don't understand. What are you talking –"
Elian stopped abruptly, clutching his head as an unbearable ringing sound erupted in his head. It was like a thousand bells had been struck at once, vibrating through his skull with a sharp pain.
In agony, he grabbed both sides of his head. "Stop! Make it stop!" he cried.
It didn't stop. The pain exploded in his skull. It felt like all the blood in his body was pumping to his brain. Elian's teeth bit through his lips. He tasted fresh blood on his tongue.
"Please stop it!" he shouted, sobbing weakly.
He fell to his knees and then crumpled in pain on his back, staring at the soot-blackened sky through eyes streaming with tears.
What was happening to him? Was this the part where he died? Was he going to die by his head imploding?
The girl, sensing he was in great pain, drew closer and fell on her knees beside him. Her head blotted out the sky. She gripped his shoulder, shaking him gently.
"Hey! Snap out of it!" She yelled, slapping his face gently.
Elian could see her mouth move but couldn't hear the words. The painful ringing in his head masked everything else, consuming his every thought.
"What's happening to you?" She shouted, looking around desperately. Those birds could come back at any moment, and she was out of ammo. "Where does it hurt? Did those things bite you?"
Elian shook his head, wanting to tell her that the pain was in his head, but he had forgotten how to form words. He curled his legs up to his chin, crying and begging for it to stop.
And then suddenly, he heard a voice like thunder speaking in his head.
[ELIAN VANCE. YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO BE THE BEARER OF LIGHT].