A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Hearing his words, Emily grew pale as despair began to set in.

She knew there should be a method of turning that keypad off from in here, but she didn't remember how. She hated herself for not paying closer attention when her parents explained the various features of this room.

So far, Emily had been the pillar of strength in their situation, doing her best to try and protect Emma despite the fact that her sister was not the only one who had lost her parents.

But now, the weight of despair pressed upon the young girl's shoulders as the refuge she personally brought them to was starting to crumble.

Her eyes, once filled with determination, now started losing their colour and defiant edge as she felt like curling up on the ground in the foetal position.

She was just a sixteen-year-old girl, after all. Her parents had just died, she was running on fumes, and she simply didn't have the power to defend herself against a full-grown man like Liam. Not to mention those strange pillars he was conjuring.

As despair crept into Emily's soul, she had completely forgotten she was still grasping Emma's hand.

So far, the younger sister had still been stuck in her shocked haze, but in that instant, a shift occurred within Emma as her big sister's despair washed over her, and something primal awakened within.

Without uttering a word, Emma's grip on Emily's hand tightened as her eyes cleared.

Feeling the change next to her, Emily blinked for a moment before looking down at her little sister, who looked up at her with a reassuring smile even as unshed tears still sparkled in her mismatched eyes.

It was both a silent plea for protection and an unspoken promise that she would stand by her sister's side.

Feeling the warmth of Emma's support and noticing how the girl had pulled herself together after the heavy shock in the living room, Emily felt hope spark within her once again.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before crouching down and hugging her sister tightly while whispering in her ear, "Hold on little Em. Even if it takes everything I have, I will keep you safe. Now and always."

At those words, a powerful conviction to protect Emma no matter the cost filled Emily to the brim as she started thinking about how she could keep them both safe from Liam. She had no confidence in the security company showing up in time.

While wrecking her brain for a solution, she thought back to those weird pillars that seemed to appear while they were being chased by Liam and at the same time, having calmed down a little, she once again felt that strange power from earlier flowing through her veins.

She had forgotten all about that powerful feeling she felt before, as her parents' sudden fate and Liam's actions had forced all other thoughts into the background, but now, she once again started exploring that feeling.

She realised that she might not have been the only one to feel that power, and if Liam focussed on it instead of her parents, then perhaps his apparent ability to make strange pillars appear out of nowhere had something to do with that power.

And if that were so, then perhaps she could do the same and use it to protect them!

Her mind went a mile a minute as she began connecting puzzle pieces and following the same instinct that Liam had before when she suddenly began waving her finger in the air like a lunatic.

Naturally, she was drawing her own runic symbol through pure instinct, much like Liam had done earlier, except that hers was pitch black instead of earthen brown.

It was at this moment that Liam finally found the correct code. Ominously, the door slid open under his triumphant laughter, "Prepare yourself, little kittens, here I come!"

When he entered the room, the first thing he noticed was Emily waving her finger in the air, much like what he had done earlier.

But his power-addled mind naturally rejected the very idea that Emily might possess the same thing he did. Instead, he just smirked with ridicule, "What are you doing, little Emily? Trying to ward me off with some pretend curses? This is real life, missy! And I'm here to claim my prize!"

But as Liam walked closer to the two sisters while Emma was simply hiding behind Emily and glaring at him, Emily suddenly stopped her movements. An excited smile adorned her face as she felt power coursing through her body.

Liam somehow felt this. He didn't know how or why, but he could feel the same power he had radiating off of Emily, and it angered him to no end.

How dare this little bitch use the same power as him!

So he immediately summoned his power in anger, ready to strike Emily down for her transgression. Naturally, Emily tried to do the same, but Liam was much faster as he already had a little experience.

Fortunately… nothing actually happened. Liam was no less confused about this then the sisters, as he could feel his power, but it somehow refused to do anything!

But that was only natural; after all, Liam was clearly someone with an earthly affinity, and unfortunately for him, they were currently on the second floor, far away from the very substance he needed to fuel his attacks.

He would need to become much more experienced before he could form attacks out of the dust in the air or create earth out of nothing.

Emily saw his actions and went from scared to confused to elated as she noticed no pillar was coming, so instead, she pushed herself to the limit by scrounging and gathering every tiny scrap of power in her young body. S

he called upon the power of her mystic glyph without even considering the glyph's purpose.

She was no more experienced than Liam was the first time he tried to use his power, but the difference was in the intention.

Liam didn't want to hurt the girl, at least not in that way, and he also just wanted to scare them and thus used only a little bit of power.

But Emily had every intention of hurting Liam as badly as she could, and she planned to use everything she had to do it.

So when a pitch-black magic circle floated in front of her outstretched hand, the shadows in the room became darker, and tens of small floating black orbs appeared in the room. Then, under Emily's enraged roar, they all shot off in different directions.

She naturally wanted them all to converge on Liam, but considering the amount she used, there were still plenty of bolts heading for the man. He desperately tried to dodge as many as he could, but under his horrified screams, he was still hit by two of them.

One hit him on the left side of his chest, while the other hit straight on his crotch.

The bolts seemed to have corrosive properties as Liam's clothes disappeared, and the flesh underneath began to melt away, causing Liam to scream in pain as he bolted out the door, desperate to find some way of stopping this stuff from corroding his flesh.

When he was gone, Emily could only smile with relief before her eyes slowly started closing, and she fell into unconsciousness. No one noticed the crimson shadow pass behind her black eyes.

* * *

After these events, time moved fast for the sisters. They did everything they could to survive in a now much harsher world.

Emma seemed to have no power, unlike Emily and nearly every other human they came across, which naturally only heightened Emily's conviction to protect her sister.

Eventually, Liam, who apparently survived his encounter with Emily's powers, gathered some men under him and constantly harassed the two sisters. Yet, he was still too scared to start another frontal confrontation.

Still, it put a lot of pressure on Emily as she became more and more desperate for the power to protect her sister when, one day, Emma came to her with an ancient-looking book that she had apparently found somewhere in the antique section of their family's library.

Inside were methods meant to increase a person's ability to absorb the aetherium around them, and although most of these methods were unavailable due to missing abilities or items, the aetherium infusion sigil required just a little effort and skill.

Naturally, Emily was sceptical. After all, why would such a book appear here when this magic only recently appeared in the world?

Still, she was desperate enough to try anything.

And to her astonishment, it worked. When she sat in the middle of that circle, power seemed to flow inside her as easily as water cascading down a mountainside.

From there, it was a short time before her power grew to such an extent that her fearsome reputation would keep everyone far away from the Ashcroft estate.

Unfortunately, this was also the beginning of the end for the Emily of the past, as corruption started to rear its ugly head.