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A moment later, I turned to face the site of the strike and watched the smoke clear. I hear sounds of anguish come from inside it, and I walk forward, pushing the remaining smoke out of my path.
I see a small crater has formed from the strike. As I peer down, I see a figure writhing in pain. As I squint, I gasp in horror.
A weird, dark elf-looking creature lay at the bottom. I held my breath as I contemplated my next move. I should run, but I feel the same pull toward this creature as I did toward the statue.
FOUR
JENNA
The eruption from the crackling lightning and the implosion of the ground below sent everyone into a frenzy. All of the humans who were observing Mr. Malaki’s shoddy performance fled, but I stood there, completely transfixed by what the sky had brought me.
My ears are ringing, the muffled sound of hysterical cries avoiding the gaping crater in the ground. My heart jostled in my chest, and I considered running back home like the rest of the townspeople.
But something pulled me forward. That sense of curiosity, that boredom perhaps, that thrill that was lost long ago, aids me in gazing into the depth of the hole by some supernatural force.
Cradled in a fetal position nearly six feet below me is what looks to be a dark elf. That is my first thought, at least. Once I glance over his glossy dark skin, I see he is lean but muscular, his limbs folded inward.
He, or whatever it is, also seems to be utterly naked. It’s obscene, but the detection of that fact makes my thighs burn abhorrently.
“JENNA!”
I barely hear the voice calling out to me as I continue analyzing the being below. The panicked shrieks around me return acutely once Carmen takes me by the shoulders and spins me around to face her.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
She is screaming into my face, yet, I have no response. Everyone around us is running in the direction of their homes and farms. Even the people who were working in the tavern and shops were booking it in the name of safety in the presence of a cataclysmic event.
I should be running, but I cannot move my feet.
“What areyoudoing?” I respond back to her. “Why aren’t you at the tavern?”
She still holds me by the shoulders and scowls, the impulse to lighten the mood unwavering.
“You are gorgeous, babe, but you also may have hit your head,” she said, eyes flicking into the crater briefly. “We need to get out of here before whatever the fuck that is wakes up … or the orcs take us out.”
I feel her trembling through my arms, yet I cannot take my attention from the creature that beamed out of the sky. I pushed her arms away, and I moved back to the edge of the giant hole.
“I want to see him,” I mumbled, captivated beyond measure.
“Jenna.”
She takes me by the waist, and I shake her off more feverishly than before. I don’t want her to get hurt either, and I understand her wariness when it comes to the orcs, but I need to get a closer look at the being in the hole.
“Carmen, I need to help him,” I bellow as I shake her off. “He could be hurt.”
Carmen backs away, sliding her jaw back and forth with contemplation. There is a mania in her eyes that I saw this morning and many times after escaping her father’s violent temper. It doesn’t please me to observe or to summon such emotion in her, but my intuition drags me like a thread to assess the being who shattered my humdrum existence.
She pursed her lips, almost reading my mind. She then gazed around, the village almost completely empty of the horrified humans, and nodded at the creature below.
“Fine,” she scoffs. “But if he eats you, don’t blame me. We better move fast before the orcs show up.”
I smiled, then slowly began my descent into the crater.
The soil is as soft as sand from the collision of the lightning, making it a little difficult to pace myself. I slide down a few times before I get to the creature, nearly landing on top of him within the last foot and a half.
“Hurry!” Carmen called down.
I wipe the dirt off my clothing and, finally, fix my gaze upon the creature that seemingly came out of the clear blue ether.
