Vaelen was standing on the porch, his bare feet pressing into the cold and splintered wood. The rain had reduced to a miserable drizzle.
The only noise he could hear was the heavy, rhythmic thumping of his own heart. It felt like a drum beating in a hollow cave.
He was looking at the creature. It was taller than his father. Its skin resembled the color of a bruised plum, slick with the rain and something much darker.
Those three yellow eyes remained fixed on Vaelen. They did not blink. They did not show anger or hate. They showed nothing at all. It was like looking into a deep, empty well.
The monster pulled its hand back. The wet sound it made caused Vaelen to gag. His father's body slumped against the wall and then slid down to the porch floor.
Garrick looked small. The man who could carry three logs at once now resembled a pile of discarded clothes.
"Dad?" Vaelen whispered.
The word was thin as paper. It vanished into the night air. There was no answer. There would never be another answer.
The creature tilted its head. It began to move. Its movements were not like a human's. They were jerky and sharp, resembling a puppet being pulled by invisible strings.
It stepped over Garrick's body as if it were a stone on the road. It was coming for the boy.
'This isn't real,' Vaelen thought. 'I'm still in bed. I'm dreaming about the birthday trip to town. I'm going to wake up, and Mom will have the porridge ready. We're going to buy a book today.'
But the smell was too real. The metallic tang of blood was thick in the air. The cold wind biting at his skin was too sharp to be a dream.
Vaelen tried to move his legs. They were frozen. He felt as if he was buried in ice up to his waist. He wanted to scream, but his throat was tight and dry.
He could only watch as the creature reached out a long, spindly arm. Its claws were black and hooked like a bird's.
As the monster's hand drew closer, Vaelen noticed something.
The particles.
They were not just drifting anymore. Usually, they were like slow, lazy dust motes in the sun. Now, they were frantic. Thousands of blue specks were swarming around Vaelen's body. They were spinning in a tight circle, moving faster and faster until they became a blur of light.
He felt a sudden, intense heat in the center of his chest. It was not the warm glow he felt during the day.
'Make it stop,' he thought. 'Please, make it all stop.'
The creature hissed. It seemed to sense the change in the air. It lunged forward, its claws aimed straight for Vaelen's throat.
In that second, the heat in Vaelen's chest exploded.
He did not think about a spell. He did not know how to use magic. He just wanted the nightmare to go away. He threw his hands up in front of his face, his eyes squeezed shut.
A wave of blue light erupted from his palms. It was not fire, and it was not a solid wall. It was a concentrated burst of those tiny particles, forced together by pure, raw terror. The force of it knocked Vaelen backward. He hit the front door and fell into the mud of the yard.
A high-pitched shriek filled the clearing. It was a sound that made Vaelen's ears ring.
He opened his eyes. The creature was stumbling back. The blue light had scorched its chest, leaving a glowing mark that hissed against the rain.
The monster looked at its own skin, confused. It let out a low, guttural growl and bared its teeth.
Vaelen scrambled to his feet. His hands were shaking so hard he could barely keep them steady. He looked at the blue light still flickering around his fingers.
'I have to run,' he realized. 'I can't stay here.'
He looked back at the porch. He saw his father's still form. He thought of his mother inside. A wave of grief hit him so hard he almost collapsed again. They were gone. The house that had been full of laughter and the smell of stew was now a tomb.
The creature recovered. It let out another click and prepared to spring.
He turned and ran toward the dense forest.
He pushed through the bushes at the edge of the clearing. The branches scratched at his face and arms, but he did not feel the pain.
He ran past the area where he and his father had cut wood just yesterday. He ran past the lone tree where he had played hot potato with his friends.
Behind him, he could hear the heavy thud of the monster's footsteps. It was fast. Much faster than Vaelen.
'Think, Vaelen. Think,' he told himself. 'How do I use them? How do I make them move?'
He looked at the blue specks following him through the trees. They were trailing behind him like a glowing cape. He tried to focus on them. He tried to remember how they reacted to his hatchet swings earlier that day.
He reached a steep hill that led down toward a small creek. The ground was slick with mud and wet leaves. Vaelen slipped and tumbled down the slope. He hit the bottom with a thud, his breath escaping his lungs in a sharp gasp.
He looked up. The creature was at the top of the hill. It stood outlined against the moon, a silhouette of jagged edges and glowing eyes. It crouched, preparing to leap down onto him.
Vaelen looked at the creek. The water was rushing over the stones, white and frothy from the rain. He reached out his hand toward the water.
He focused all his grief, all his anger, and all his fear into a single point. He imagined the blue particles grabbing onto the water. He imagined them pulling it, shaping it.
"Go away!" he screamed.
As the monster jumped, a column of water rose from the creek. It was not a perfect shape. It was messy and chaotic, but it was strong. It slammed into the creature mid-air. The force of the water and the blue magic mixed within it sent the monster flying backward, crashing into the trunk of a massive pine tree.
Vaelen did not stay to see if it got back up. He turned and ran deeper into the dark, leaving his home and his childhood behind in the rain.