by EMR
My grandpa died last year.
He was a secretive man, never talked much, never asked much, but a hoarder like no other. His attic was full of random stuff he collected throughout his life. Books, clothing, carved wooden clocks and apparently glowing orbs for some reason. You could find almost anything there, but the orbs were probably the most interesting. They were beautiful, tinted with multiple hues of a color and were emitting this faint light. When I found them, I just had to keep a few for myself. Somehow, it felt like there was magic trapped in them.
Magic was long forbidden in this land. Some people used to have certain abilities, but because others feared what they were capable of, they were hunted down and killed. Having a power was no longer something great, something special; it was a deadly secret never to be told.
I had hidden two of the orbs in the nightstand next to my bed. They glowed a fiery red, reminding me of the sky at dusk. Apparently my little brother was a little too curious about them as well because when I entered my room he was playing with them on the floor.
“Raki, please put them back.”
“Mom allowed it,” he answered, not bothered by me in the slightest.
I sighed, trying to take them from him by force, but he just hid them behind his back. I felt the anger slowly flaring up as Raki jumped on my bed to get further away from me. He was seeing all this as part of the play, while I was genuinely concerned for the precious orbs. As I grabbed his hand, he suddenly dropped one of them.
It shattered into a million little pieces, the color paled, the light vanished. Before I could worry about stepping onto any of the shards, the glass fragments faded. And a person appeared instead. A big, bulky guy.
The shock froze my limbs, making me unable to move, scream, yell. My brother dropped the other orb on my bed and quickly fled the room with a cry for help, while I couldn’t do anything but stare at the person in front of me. He seemed confused as well, looking around the room and then at me, a smirk on his lips.
The man’s cold gaze fixated on me, making a shiver run down my spine. And then he suddenly attacked, going straight for my throat, while I couldn’t even question his intentions, too stunned to react. The pain quickly reached my mind and panic erupted all over me.
I tried getting his hands off my neck, but he was too strong. The world started fading from my sight and in a last resort to survive, I reached for the orb on my bed and smashed it in his face.
I was able to breathe again, barely able to see as another voice sounded in the room.
“Well, well, seems like I was freed just in time.”
© EMR 2023-05-09