It was much worse than we feared. Aleszy… a leshane. A demonic deer spirit of the forest, rumored to be given black powers by the Seven Gods themselves. We couldn’t fight this.
Father knew it. “Ethan, run!” he shouted. I didn’t need to be told twice. I tried heading to the safety of the trees, but the leshane raised his clawed hand, and roots sprung up along the edge of the forest, preventing my escape. I had to dodge as roots sprung up from the ground in a brutal attack. They barely missed my torso as they stabbed upward through the dirt.
Father had changed back into his human form. He was blowing on a twisted ram’s horn, signaling to the other hunters that we needed help. As he continued calling the others, I did my best to outrun the leshane as its magic followed me through the valley. The ground shook underneath my feet like an earthquake as roots went shooting up from the ground moments where I’d been before. One false step, and I’d be impaled.
Father snarled, and he erupted into his wolven form. He took to the skies and charged at the leshane, trying to distract it. He attempted to get close, but every time he tried the monster swung his large claws, preventing him from landing a secure bite.
Now that the leshane was distracted, I went to help. I ran forward and sank my teeth into its leg. It was like biting through a tree. The leshane gave no indication that it hurt, merely kicked me off. The blow sent me sailing into the root wall. I heard something crack, most likely my ribs. I moaned in pain, struggling to get up as I watched my father war with the leshane.
The leshane’s claws came too close, and they cut across my father’s chest. He snarled, and blood went everywhere. The cut was deep. I gasped. Despite the agonizing pain in my ribs, I forced myself to stand and return to the fight. My father needed me.
I pleaded with the Seven Gods to send help as I launched myself onto the leshane’s back. I dug my claws in and refused to let go, pinpointing where was best to sink my fangs in. But I wasn’t sure where to bite. We’d never studied leshanes in class, as it was assumed anyone who was unlucky enough to find one in the woods would be dead within minutes anyway. There was nowhere to rip out a jugular or pierce a vein. Every part of the leshane was wooden and bone. I didn’t think I could break its neck. This truly was a creature sent by evil.
In response to me clinging on, the leshane grew wooden spines out of its back, sharp and dangerous. One of them went through my paw. I howled in pain and let go, dropping to the ground and rolling away. My father remained in the air, blood pouring from his wounds as the leshane continued to advance.
The leshane threw back its head and let out a wicked cry. There was thundering in the trees, and a sleuth of bears stampeded through the root wall and into the valley. There were dozens of them— the leshane had used dark magic to call them to his aid.
This was bad. This was really, really bad.
Father paid no attention to the bears, just kept focusing on the leshane. One bear tried to whip him out of the air, until Father turned on him and pinned him to the ground, tearing out his throat before returning to his original task. The leshane battled cooly, as if certain that this was a battle it would win.
Finally, I heard the sound of help coming. Griffins and alicorns came flooding out of the trees to defend the king. They leapt over the root wall that the leshane had caged us in and charged forward. Eagle-lion hybrids battled alongside unicorns with massive wings, struggling against the bears that the leshane commanded.
I searched the skies for dragons, but they’d been sent farther away than the other groups, and it would take them longer to arrive. Where was Stefan? We needed him!
With the arrival of the griffins and the alicorns, the leshane changed. It mutated from his horrifying form to become a monster that ran on four legs, a skeleton poking through skin, dripping thick blood. It looked more animal than human now. The leshane moved with incredible speed, appearing a blur as it ran through the valley. He passed griffins and alicorns alike, slaying them both. Roots came up to suffocate or spear through the Arcanea gathered all around the woods. I watched the scene in horror, paralyzed. I wasn’t sure what to do. People were dying. Our warriors were falling to the leshane. We were all going to die.
Father hadn’t given up. His grey pelt was soaked with blood, but he was determined to bring down the leshane at whatever cost. He ran at the creature with teeth bared. My father and the leshane met, rearing up on their hind legs to strike out at each other with antler and fang.
I was limping now, and could only move but stiffly for the pain in my ribs, but I wasn’t content to die unless it was on my feet and defending my country. I charged forward, and took my father’s side as the two of us tag-teamed taking the leshane down. I got a mouth full of splinters each time a bite managed to hit its target, but I didn’t care. This was life or death.
There was a roar from above, and a black shape blocked out the sun. My heart lifted.
Stefan had finally arrived! He hovered above the scene, pumping his massive black wings, and let out a stream of fire that billowed around the leshane and set it aflame.
The leshane made a high-pitched, screaming sound and went for the closest thing it could take its anger out on— me.
Things happened so slowly that I felt the moment would replay for the rest of my life. The leshane, still on fire, lunged forward with its jagged mouth wide open— my father went to push me out of the way. The leshane got its sharp fangs around my leg, slightly above the knee. There was a tearing sound below, like bone and flesh breaking.
The pain was incredible, white-hot and blinding. But I couldn’t focus on it with the sight of my father’s body limply dangling from the root that had sprung up out of the ground, a thick knot of wood speared clean through his chest.
I was briefly aware of the feeling of the monster biting clean through, and my father’s dying screams, before the world went dark.
Chapter Two
Emma
“Your immune levels didn’t change during testing. The diagnosis is positive, Emma.”
It felt like all the breath had been beaten out of my lungs. I nearly had to gasp my next word. “What?”
“You have it,” Dr. Luticifo repeated. His words had a bit of sadness, but there was more of a formality there— like I was just another number in a sad statistic... not a human being.
A hollow feeling grew inside me and settled there. I was certain I’d carry around that emptiness for the rest of my life. I was different now.
Then a bit of denial surged through me. This wasn’t real. I couldn’t be sick. No way.
But I was. Now I knew. I had a disease that no one knew of and that I could hardly pronounce. I hardly knew what any of this meant.
