"WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE?"

A voice thunders in my mind. I can’t tell where it comes from, but it doesn't sound threatening. It sounds familiar. Like the sound of my brother's breathing while he sleeps, or the distant hum of my mother while she waters the herbs.

It’s loud enough to make mountains shake.

I can trust this voice.

It’s part of me.

I reach out towards it, into the black, my heavy limbs left behind as I do so. Perhaps this is what it feels like to hallucinate before death?

There's something in the darkness. Surrounded by the complete absence of light, it's spotlighted in my vision; a box made from dark wood and wrapped in golden chains so tightly that the wood creaks under the pressure. Entwined amongst the chains are serpents, hissing angrily as my consciousness notices them.

What is this?

"IT IS A MANIFESTATION. A WAY TO VISUALLY TRANSLATE SOMETHING THAT YOUR MIND CANNOT PROCESS YET..."

The voice pauses teasingly there, as though it expects me to ask. I don’t.

How do I open it? 

The voice chuckles.

"IF YOU WANT TO LIVE, THINK PAST THE SNAKES.”

I scowl.

Think past the snakes? I think about ripping them away, but they hiss loudly as though in response to my thoughts. Can they hear me?

My body is running out of time. I am going to die if I do nothing now. I concentrate hard on the sole thing I can think of doing. The only way to get rid of the snakes quickly without touching them. The way the farmers drive them out of the fields sometimes, sending them fleeing in all directions.

Fire.

I’ll drive off the snakes with fire if I can find it.

I'm surprised when flames leap up before me. They feel hot on my face. The snakes hiss in terror, desperately trying to untangle themselves from the chains but failing before the fire claims them. Their scales rupture and split, as their forms light on fire, spitting while the smell of roasted meat drifts to my nostrils.

"VIOLENT BUT ACCEPTABLE. THERE MAY COME A TIME WHEN YOU WISH YOU'D HAVE CHOSEN ANOTHER WAY. NEXT WILL COME THE CHAINS, BUT FOR NOW, YOU'VE TAKEN THE FIRST STEP. YOU. WILL. LIVE."

The last three words are punctuated and emphasised.

All at once, my vision clears. I'm on my knees still. Only seconds have passed since the voice spoke to me.

Urias looks terrified, his hands clasping and unclasping as he tries to rein in his powers unsuccessfully.

It doesn’t matter.

I shrug off the spell like rainwater.

I don't know how I manage it, only that I can. I am a puppet in my body, being controlled by something greater than I am.

Urias grimaces as the magical backlash catches him and sends him sprawling to the ground.

I rise to my feet.

I can see the shadows of the snakes by my feet. How have they got there? They are different, golden and flickering, almost like...

Flames erupt everywhere.

They leap from the backs of the snakes onto the dry straw and wooden beams.

At first, it's just a few small embers, breathed to life by the breeze from the skirts of the girls who rapidly try to flee the reptiles, but they soon roar into true flames.

The snakes curl up posts and slink through loose hay, spreading the fire as fast as they can slither.

I am disjointed, removed from the situation. I can hear screaming.

Urias falls, his face landing in a pile of ash with a horrific hissing sound. A snake rears before him, ready to strike, though he can't see it through his pain. Harriet reaches for him, grabbing him from the embers and pulling him out of the barn door as she flees.

Horror hits me.

Have I done this?

I don’t want to know.

I put my hands over my ears and try to ignore the roaring flames.

I can't have done this. There is no way. I don't have magic; I don't have the ability. Whoever has done this, whoever has tried to blame it on me-

A beam crashes behind me and my eyes fly open.

"RUN," the voice whispers in my head.

It fills my limbs with an unnatural strength. I throw my arms in front of my face, running towards the back of the barn and kicking through part of the wall that has already been damaged by the fire.

I run and run, not stopping to look behind at the fire.

I can't go home.

I can't face anyone after this.

Whatever happened, it was undoubtedly Dark magic.

My Purpose is to be ordinary. My purpose is to protect Kasper.

If no one knows, I can continue. I just need to find somewhere new to serve Kasper. I just need to wait for things to calm down, for people to forget or maybe misremember, and then I can come back. Then I can go to Kasper. Go to the University.

Then I can finish what I'm supposed to.

I run until my legs give out, tasting blood in my mouth and my eyes stinging. A light drizzle has fallen, feeling cool and comforting on my overheated skin.

"SLEEP," the voice whispers.

Even as I fight it, the exhaustion overcomes me. I fall at the side of the road and succumb.