Beating (Book 1: Acts of the Hearth)

Chapter 32

Violent shadows shoot up from the cracks in the ground, cutting off Walles’s escape route. The boy turns in another direction spotting more of the shadows sprouting from below to block his way. He tries once again to flee to the third location.

     Gray shadowy vines, whip around and completely encircle him. Relentlessly, they crawl along his skin; leaving a cold, creeping sensation as the others thread together, blanketing him from above.

     The scene from his father’s death replays ever rapidly through his pacing mind. Walles breathes shallow breaths that he cannot hear over the sound of his loudly beating heart.

     His tongue grows dry during the panic attack as he gasps loudly before the shadows cover his face; blotting out all light. Sounds of whooshing closes in as large wings cut through the air. Travis dives down into the void of shadows that engulfs the young leader. The built up speed rips the gray shadows from off of the boy as they fly higher up.

     Travis looks down at his rescued target. Walles’s eyes are wide and his pulps dilated near to the rims of his iris from the trauma. He shakes ever violently, clawing away from his savior’s arms, as if he were still in the shadow’s clutches.

     “Walles! Calm down! It’s alright! You’re away from them now. You’re with me.” the young man assures him. Gray shadows zip by and swoop in to strike Travis.

     “Hold your breath!” he shouts to the young boy as he leans back and disengages his wings. The two dive directly down as he quickly re-engages his wings and turns.

     “Nice! Glad to know all that practice paid off! Let’s get out of here, Walles!” he shouts down to the boy. The shadows commence a multitude of attacks in a thinner shape than before. Their speed begins to increase as they move in waves.

     Travis nearly dodges the first strike in the new pattern, a second one manages to stab through the center of his left wing. “Damn, this thing is really out to get us! We’re leaving! You won, now let us go!” he yells to the lifeless entities.

     Spurred on by the persistence of the attacks, he make a quick landing to the surface. Travis quickly resituates Walles against his left shoulder as the they run from the relentless threat.

     “I’m weak—I’m just so weak… I got all those men killed just because I couldn’t admit I was weak…!” Walles speaks through sobbing. Once again the shadows hunt and strike at them. Travis jumps up with Walles in tow using his undamaged wing to extend the distance of the jump.

     “Walles, how old are you?” Travis ask him. “What? I’m twelve…” he answers back. “Then hear me out. What’s wrong with being weak? You’re just a kid right now, you have a lot of time to grow stronger. Why not just wait and use your time wisely to grow? Running away to extend that time, that isn’t weakness.” the young man expresses while dodging the incoming attacks.

     “How old are you…?” he shoots the question back curiously. Travis chuckles lightly. “I’m nineteen. And yeah, I’m still kinda a kid too. But, I think we both only had a short time to be one. Honestly, not fair…”

     “I feel like my time as a kid may be running out. Even so, if I don’t make the deadline, I plan to keep growing. So, slow down for a bit, enjoy your weaknesses because they are your teachers, but always focus on trying to get better!” Travis turns his head and notices that the shadows have multiplied into an innumerably large swarm.

     “There is one thing we both have to do before we start growing…! Live! And this thing doesn’t seem to want that!” Travis exclaims as he kicks off the ground and flaps with his wing to gain height.