When We Were Still Human by Vaughn Foster (best ereader for textbooks .txt) 📕

Controlling magic was harder on Earth than in the aether, but an hour ago, she had managed it just fine. But this?

She bit back against the energy and started running. She closed her eyes and felt for the next wave before it burst. She channeled the energy through her body before it could explode outward. It was like a song. The notes rang loudly, and if she didn’t lean in at the right moment, the entire arrangement would break to pieces.

Avia’s eyes darted to the bodies of Freyr and Freya lying in the rubble below.  In the back of her mind, she knew that this wasn’t her power. She was feeding off of the rage of betrayed gods. A rage and heat that could have only been kindled by time.

She reached the monster and froze. Instead of arms or legs, there was only a sea of whipping tentacles that spewed from the back of its body. It had the build of a sea monster. Unfortunately, natural selection hadn’t been content to kill it off on the ocean floor. Instead, evolution had granted it barbed tentacles, bat-like wings, and killing intent.

Avia braced for an attack, but it wasn’t doing anything. Still… The audience across from the creature looked wrong. Their eyes were black. Their color was turning gray and if she stared long enough, she could see skin and scales turning to stone.

Clicking back into gear, Avia leapt towards the creature again. This time, it was ready. With speed that should have been impossible at its size, the monster flicked its head and sent Avia crashing into the rock perimeter. Before she could fall, it was on her again. It snapped at her with its maw of fangs. She spun and twisted before sending blast after blast of fire into its eyeless face. Soon enough, her feet found the stone wall, and she kicked off. She flew above its face and landed firmly onto its back.

The creature tried to buck her again, but she was ready. Avia smashed her fist into its skull. It howled in pain, but she gripped harder. With her left hand, she threw lava across the base of its wings. The tendons and bones holding them together quickly melted. Without any way to stay in flight, the creature crashed head-first into the center of the ring.

Avia pulled her hand from the creature’s skull and stumbled onto the ground. The darkness still throbbed around her, but she was too exhausted to even process it. She looked back at the already ossifying magma that had splattered onto the creature and ground. What was left of the demon was soon locked into black rock.

Pain exploded in her arm and she clutched the Mark like a vice. A tingling sensation ran across her body. She looked down to see her black and hardened skin healing over with soft flesh. The world was still bathed in an orange hue, but she was positive that the “dragon eyes” were also gone.

“Avia!” She looked up to see Paris running down one of the aisles. Her human veil was gone as well. It wasn’t long before Gemini stood beside her, frantically taking in the destroyed tent.

“What just happened?” Paris asked

“I don’t know,” Avia mumbled, looking back at the corpse. Black ichor oozed from the cracks of hardened magma in its head. Its grey skin had lost its slick membrane. In death, the thing now looked more like a dried-out fossil.

“Wait,” Castor muttered. Paris stepped past Avia and ran her hand along the body. “It’s rock.”

“Of course, it’s rock, you stupid bitch!” Avia spun to see Freyr standing leerily behind them. His jaw was uncomfortably crooked. His right leg was twisted the wrong way. A hole in his ribcage revealed a black, beating heart. He half-stomped, half-dragged himself over to them, resetting bones and putting himself together as best he could. “You ruined everything! Do you know how difficult it was to get Lord Hades to lend us a gargoyle for this show?! It was going just like we rehearsed! We fall. It swallows us. Blackout. We reappear in a final flip. Bows! Applause! ‘Encore! Encore!’”

Freya stomped out of the smoke to stand behind her brother, black eyes squinted in loathing. She was in significantly better shape. Well, better was a relative term. She had fallen at least three stories and was missing most of her arms.

“And you!” She stuck an accusing stump at Avia. “You’re not even a dragon! You probably weren’t even hired for hair and makeup, were you?!”

“Paris isn’t the only stupid bitch if you’re just figuring that one out…” Avia mumbled, moreso to herself than to Freya. She was still disoriented from the energy she had just channeled. Looking back at the dead creature, she realized it did look a bit… gargoyle-esque. She’d never seen anything like it, but if she tilted her head at a certain angle, she could imagine it posted atop an old church somewhere in Europe.

“Are you even listening?!”

Dazed, Avia turned her head to see Freya inches from her face. She hated people this close. She raised a hand to set the woman on fire, but another sharp stab from the Mark liquified her stance.

There was a loud pop and everything went silent. The aether, less distorted than before, washed over her. Avia could still read most of the obscenities spewed from Freya’s mute lips. But now, she could see the Freya behind the performer. The red irises and black sclera were gone. Staring at her, instead, was the clearest blue that Avia had ever seen. But those eyes were also the saddest. The goddess was chained by marionette strings behind the rotting veil of a trapeze artist.

“My, my, what a mess we have.”

The return of sound snapped Avia out of the vision. The ringmaster was curiously looking at Freyr and Freya, and then to Avia and