I push my way through the storm to try and get to the beacon house, but I get to a point where I just can’t continue on. I stop and try to look through the rain, but I can’t see anything. Before I retreat manually into the Void, the rain clears up almost instantly, leaving me in the town center with someone I don’t recognize. A crowd has grown, probably because I was the only one getting rained on and this someone was the cause of it.

As I pull my hood back, I hear their voice. It’s a man, and he sounds pissed. “Emily Everlock, prepare yourself!” I am given no time before a bolt of lightning fires down and shoots straight at me from his hands. The attack strikes me and I fall rolling to the ground, hearing a loud ringing in my ears and feeling like I was just hit by an automobile. After some time, the man comes into view above me and my vision and hearing come back to me, letting me see him clearly. His eyes are white and he has short, pure gray hair that matches his trimmed beard. His clothes are like combat robes, making me think he is someone of importance, but not from this world.

He leans down and grabs my neck before lifting me a bit. I am still recovering from the strike, which rendered me unable to move. “Morak Serihn sent me, mortal woman. I am the God of Thunder, Eres.” His words become accompanied by arcs of lightning coursing around his arm. I try to say something, but I’m not able to, and he shoves me into the ground before lifting me back up. “You disrespectful little mortal!” Again, I’m slammed into the ground, now losing air circulation. “Where are your powers, woman?!” Another hit down, but this time, he lets go of me as I hear a smashing of wood.

Above me, someone came to help by throwing a stool over the god’s head. “Y-you best not hurt her, Mister!” No- Will! Anyone but him!

I’m now able to feel my body, which hurts immensely, and I see Eres look to the poor boy. His voice booms as I begin to see clouds pooling way up in the sky, “Never interrupt a god!” The lightning fires from above and I hear screams as it slams down where Will is. I hear him fall away from us and I turn my head to see him slowly getting himself back up. Eres sees the horrified look on my face and a sick grin appears on his. “You think you can go around wherever you want without consequences, mortal?” he asks me before turning to face Will again. “Get up!”

I see him, Gertrude’s son, the mortal man who is willing to risk his life standing up to a god for my sake, rise once more. “Don’t h-hurt her, Mister.”

“Oh, and what are you going to do about it?” I hear people from the crowd trying to call Will away from them. Everyone in this town probably loves him, and his inevitable death here will be all my fault. “Come on, then. Make me.”

I begin to pull myself up as I see Will put his fists up. I try to manage some words, but fail. He moves forward and, without any skill, tries to punch Eres. Almost instantly, he is blasted back by a shock of lightning. There’s no way Will is able to take another hit like that and live, yet I see him stumbling upwards once more. As he does, Eres taunts him. “Do you have feelings for her, and that’s why you fight? She is a murderer, you know. A cold-blooded killer with no remorse for mortals or immortals. She is a menace from the Void!” I hear gasps ripple through the crowd; this village is not known for supporting supernatural things such as the unholy Abyss itself.

Will stands straight again with his fists up. “I don’ care, Mister. I love her and won’t let you do this!” His shaky voice contrasts with how he is speaking to a God. Maybe he is a fool, maybe he is just being a man… but he loves me, and I’m not going to ever let that get someone killed again.

“Die with her, then-“ Eres stops and turns, seeing that I have stood once more. “Ready to perish, bounty hunter?”

Both of my eyes flare with the darkness of the Void. “Ready to die, God?” I throw both of my hands down, forming two God Slayers in them.

“The Void Witch reveals herself!” Eres announces to the crowd, which only draws out more gasps and exclamations. I don’t care, though. I lunge forward and begin striking at him. His magic with thunder and lightning is powerful and he is able to block my attacks with his wrists, but I begin drawing more power, further corrupting myself. “Stop trying!” he shouts as a large bolt of lightning shoots down between us. I’m hit back and I see a black fog beginning to manifest from where I just was. This is very bad, but if it will keep it so these innocent people don’t have to die for my actions, then so be it.

I let the fog expand and disappear into it, lurking through the mist. Instead of looking around for me, the god sends out a shockwave, which throws me tumbling to the ground again. Not enough strength! I yell in my head. I start siphoning more, now focusing on where my Void prison is to gain the forces of those I have in cages. I know it is killing them slowly, but they are there for a reason.

“Keep trying, you’ll only die tired! You were warned and yet you still continue, mortal!” he yells into the mist. “Show yourself!”

Instead of retreating, like my body is screaming at me to do, I pull the mist back to me to whirl around my arm. “Come get me!” I beckon, my voice now being two-toned, like a Void creature’s. His look changes, probably not expecting to see me change so much, and I take the opportunity to charge him. I have much more strength as I rush into him, which helps in tackling him to the ground. I use my voice to force his head backwards with a kinetic blast, which actually comes out as a terrifying shriek. With his neck vulnerable, I use my hands, which are now black and clawed with nails all like miniature God Slayers, to slash at him, drawing blood that splatters my face. The God begins to gurgle as his blood is spilt, though I continue clawing and cutting until his neck and chest are simply a mess of blood. I keep going, shredding flesh, breaking ribs away, and mutilating organs. At some point, the body disappears in a shock of lightning, signaling that the God had had enough of the fight. He would certainly live, no doubt. No duel was set in place, so he was still somewhat immortal, though I severely wounded him nevertheless.

My rage still consumes me and I look up to see the crowd of people with blurred faces. I get up from my spot and step forward, baring my teeth as they cower backwards. I get up close to the one in front, the one holding the others back. Before I do what I want to do, I quickly dull down, like feelings of calm and serenity are flooding my mind. I lose my energy to keep standing as the feelings become stronger. I blink, thinking I see detailed faces on those people before my vision finally goes black. This is not where I want to become what I fear. If I was not tempted and pressured so, I could keep it at bay, but I was put into a situation where I had to let it loose. At least now, I can use all the magic that I want to. How did this end up happening; all I wanted was some fresh air.

--

             “Listen, you hear that? She’s crying!” The boys and girls are pointing and laughing at me.

“A-am not,” I say, wiping tears away from my face. I’m eye level with them, but trying to hold myself up so I don’t seem so weak.

“We should teach her a lesson!” The others agree in unison and the leading one pushes me down. “You get that for being weird!” They’re talking about my features: my black skin, my white eyes, and my white hair. It’s not my fault; I’ve always been like this. I never chose to look how I look.

“Please stop,” I say, making sure to use the words my mother taught me to use if I wanted to be normal, like the other kids.

“Even your voice is weird. Ew!” He kicks dirt at me, making me cover my eyes with my hand. This started because I accidentally kicked my ball too far and had to go looking for it. When I found it, these kids had it but they wouldn’t give it back.

“I’ll go away, I-I promise,” I plead, though they get closer.

The leading boy says, “You aren’t going nowhere, Weirdie.” Before I uncover my eyes, I feel a fist fly across my face and I let out a cry. “This is our ball now. Weirdies like you don’t deserve one!” The other kids agree and he grabs me by my hair, then tugs on it. “Cry baby, cry baby!”

I start feeling something other than sadness and I beg them to stop, but he just keeps pulling. I start getting dragged to the center of their group and they kick at me all while laughing and cheering at my sadness. I question in my mind how some kids can be so cruel to others, and my depression changes completely to something else: rage.

“Look, she’s getting angry. Ha!”

That was the last bit I could take. My vision blurred and I shoved my way from one child to another until the screaming and laughing finally stopped. I felt my rage take control and everything I did, I wanted to do. I ripped them apart and struck them down like they were nothing… just as a Void creature naturally does.

Later on, I’m sitting with my mother at home. “They said wolves came out of the forest, but Emily,” she says while taking hold of my hand. “There is blood in your nails.”

“I don’t know what happened, Mother, I promise. I tried to ask them to stop, but they wouldn’t. I wanted to leave, but they wouldn’t let me.”

Her look was not of disappointment, not of anger, but of understanding. “You can’t let your anger out like that. You should have left the moment they tried to pick a fight, Emily. You are going to stay busy with your studies and you are not permitted to leave the house until I say so. Go get cleaned up; you’re a mess, child.”