Sky, starless night.

Fae, Witch’s Wight.

Aye, to your temples flee oh people in dread.

Nay, only fools rush in where demons fear to tread.

- Andanian Chronicles

“Stop!” Mirror hissed tensely as she darted before the modest trio of guards racing through the darkened streets of Calcutta. The spooked horses reared in surprise at her sudden appearance and the soldiers fought to calm their nervous steeds.

“What is it now?” Aryan demanded impatiently, “I have to…”

“Shhh… silence! Something’s not right Aryan…” Mirror muttered as her eyes flickered uncertainly between the silent rows of buildings stretching out before them, “Where are all the mice?”

A guard advanced cautiously towards the veiled enchantress, “Ma’am, I don’t know who you are but High Prince Aryan is on a critical mission. Please do not obstruct our…”

The kitten ignored the approaching soldier as she sniffed at the still night air and twitched her ears in an attempt to identify any potential abnormalities, “Aryan! We mustn’t go this way!” Mirror pleaded, “I don’t know what, but something’s very wrong here. We must return to the palace immediately.”

“What could go wrong? We are in the center of Calcutta, my city!” Aryan protested, “And I have to save Laura!”

One of the more cautious officers frowned as she returned from her forward position, “High Prince Aryan, shall we make a brief detour to the nearest guardhouse? There should be one just a short ride ahead. We can request for additional reinforcements there before resuming our trip.”

“Aryan, you must listen to me!” Mirror tugged insistently at his leg, “There’s something strange…”

“Lead on Lieutenant Carol, we will head for the guardhouse immediately.” The impatient prince chafed at the delay as he brushed aside the kitten’s plaintive pleading. His escorts nodded in silent agreement and they resumed their original positions around the prince before the distracted boy finally turned to address the kitten that had been pawing at his feet, “Mirror you can ride with me if you promise to behave…” Aryan paused in midsentence as he searched in vain for the missing kitten. Then he sighed softly into the darkness, “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.” A somewhat guilty expression was etched on his face as he stared back into the empty street behind him, “I’ll get you an extra-large tuna tomorrow…” he whispered softly as he goaded his horse into a swift canter towards his destination.

“Only humans rush in where even mice fear to tread.” Mirror squeaked silently in protest as she squirreled herself within the secluded confines of a shadowed ledge. The kitten shivered instinctively as she stared at Aryan’s departing figure, “This is stupid, all humans are stupid! Why won’t any of them stop him?” She grumbled unhappily under her breath, “Gah, this is impossible! But I have to protect my extra-large tuna…” She drooled in anticipation as she crept reluctantly after the already distant retinue.

Just then, the kitten yawned as she was suddenly overcome by an intense feeling of exhaustion and she slumped against the temptingly warm wall beside her, “I just need forty winks. Aryan, don’t be frightened, I’ll catch up in no time… I want my happy extra-large tuna… zzzz…”

The weasel’s teeth glinted faintly in the darkness as he ceased his chanting and stalked soundlessly after the departing prince.

…

“What’s taking so long?” Aryan shouted impatiently from outside the guardhouse, “Rouse the reinforcements and let’s go already! This is an emergency. Surely the guard commander can afford to spare a few extra men?”

“High Prince, something’s not right…” Lieutenant’s Carol’s shaken voice finally responded from within the otherwise silent structure.

“What isn’t right?” Aryan complained as he dismounted from his steed and barged into the fortified building, “Gah. Does the commander actually want me to put in a request in person?”

“Gone…” The shaken Lieutenant stammered as she turned to face the approaching prince, “They are all gone!”

“Gone? What do you mean by gone?” Aryan demanded, “My father decreed that every guardhouse in the city must be staffed with at least two dozen guardsman at all times! This is a horrid dereliction of duty… this is…” The prince’s sanctimonious protest was choked off abruptly as he stared at the bloody broken helmet that was locked in the white-knuckled Lieutenant’s trembling grasp.

“High Prince, if there’s something out there capable of rampaging through a fortified structure filled with soldiers, we wouldn’t be able to handle it by ourselves. We must withdraw to the palace immediately; the diviners will be able to scry out the perpetrator.” The shaken Lieutenant stammered.

“I understand. Gather the others and let’s return to the palace for now.” After a long moment of silence, the prince sighed in agreement as he turned towards the exit.

“Wait, what do you mean by the others?” The Lieutenant paled as she pressed her back against the wall and glanced nervously at the lengthy shadows stretching through the gloomy structure, “Weren’t the other two escorts waiting with you? Outside?”

Aryan frowned as he turned to face Carol, “Huh? That not possible. I sent them in after you, because you were taking so long. It’s a straight passage from the entrance to this chamber, there’s no way you could have missed…” His words froze in his throat as a large warm sticky blob of viscous fluid splattered down onto his tunic before soaking through and streaking a trail of red down his chest. The prince trembled as he raised his head silently to stare into the void above him, but the high ceiling was shrouded in complete darkness and he detected nothing besides the sinister crunching sound of bones splitting and the eager slurping of marrow.

“Psst… quickly, back here. While it’s still occupied. There must be another way out of this place.” Carol signaled urgently as she nudged open the rear exit.

Aryan nodded tensely as he crept hurriedly from the chamber, along with his sole surviving escort. And he let out a soft sigh of relief as he shut the wooden door firmly behind him and barricaded it silently with a solid steel deadbolt. “We’re safe...” The prince cheered softly as he slumped against the cool safety of the meter-thick stone walls behind him, “That definitely wasn’t human, no mortal could have taken out two of our best men without a sound! Hey Carol, what do you think was that creature…” Aryan blinked in confusion as he stared at the now empty space where the Lieutenant had just been standing.

“Carol? Officer Carol? Hey, damnit! Where did you wander off to? This isn’t the time for practical jokes…” Aryan broke out into a cold sweat as his gaze flickered wildly across the shadowy emptiness around him. But the only response he managed to elicit was the distant screech of tearing armor and the sickening sound of teeth ripping into unresisting flesh.

His eyes budged with horrified disbelief, “Assassins! Cowards! Show yourself and fight like a man!” Aryan drew his saber and yelled defiantly into the unresponsive darkness.

…

“Great Dagon, why do you still forbid me from destroying this obvious threat to our nation? Something this twisted should never be allowed to exist…” Archdiviner Zinnridi suppressed an instinctive shiver of apprehension as he approached the feasting girl. The carnage that he had nudged into motion had long since exceeded his wildest predictions and over a thousand of the city’s inhabitants had already perished beneath her fangs, in less than two hours since her awakening. However, what most concerned the weasel was the fact that her appetite had shown no signs of waning and the death toll had continued to rise exponentially along with the absurdly inhuman abilities she was swiftly acquiring. Even without her Talent, the girl’s raw physical strength and speed would soon surpass even his own magically enhanced abilities. And the swiftly accelerating rate of carnage would ensure that over half of the city’s inhabitants would be consumed long before the first light of dawn.

“Ahem… How unexpected, are you letting that one get away?” Zinnridi forced a smile onto his bloodless lips as he glanced at the shouting prince stumbling blindly through the darkened corridor beneath them.

“Hmm…” The girl raised her head from the ravaged carcass stashed between the rafters, “There was another food?” She frowned as she stared at the prince beneath them, “But it did not smell like a human.”

“Not human?” Zinnridi blurted out seconds before he suppressed his confusion with an awkward cough, “Oh, don’t worry about the smell, it’s even more tasty than any of the others!”

“Really?” The girl’s eyes smoldered with renewed interest as she flung the guard’s lifeless corpse at the archdiviner, “Here, hold onto this for me.” She directed absently and the beams creaked as she kicked off forcefully and pounced directly at the boy beneath her.

…

Aryan jerked his body around as he finally detected the slightest whistle of an object hurtling through the air towards him. With a speed that surprised even the prince himself, he managed to whip his blade towards the approaching threat. The boy let out a yell, tinged with both fear and desperation as he swung ferociously at the shadowy assailant and his weapon blurred with inhuman speed as it scored several glancing hits, and his attacker let out a girlish cry of pain as she raised her hands in defense while staggering backwards in surprise.

“Die demon!” The triumphant prince roared as he raised his sabre to deal the finishing blow. But he hesitated at the faintest glimmer from her terrified blue hued eyes, “Laura?” Aryan gasped with disbelieving concern as he lowered his blade and stepped towards the crouched figure.

It was a mistake. As he approached, the girl’s body blurred as it vanished into a bloody mist and materialized directly behind him. Slender unyielding arms clamped down and locked him in place before he could turn to face the threat, and his blood splayed into the air as razor-sharp teeth locked in a death grip around his exposed throat.

…

“Excellent! Isn’t it?” Zinnridi commented as he levitated slowly to the ground before discarding the half-eaten guard’s corpse beside him.

The girl scrunched her face in disgust as she straddled the silenced prince while nursing her freshly inflicted wounds, “Ugh you must be joking… this was the worst thing I’ve ever tasted. And what is this Laura? Why does all the food say that word?” she questioned slyly as she raised her hand to shield her lips from his sight.

“Don’t worry about it, what the food says is hardly important.” Zinnridi deflected hurriedly.

“I guess you’re right.” The girl rose gracefully as she turned away from the archdiviner and strode swiftly towards the exit, “Well then, off to the next!”

“Wait… you only took a single bite. Aren’t you going to finish your meal?” Zinnridi glanced back, but the girl ignored him as she slipped out into the darkened streets. The perplexed weasel shot a hasty glance at the prince’s body, but his cursory examination failed to detect the faintest sign of life. “What did she mean by, not human?” Zinnridi frowned as he approached the fallen prince. But a loud chorus of screams distracted the archdiviner who shook his head as he hurried after the already distant witch, “Must minimize the carnage somehow…” he muttered, “why hasn’t Dagon acted to protect our people?”

…

“Blood!? Nooo… My Aryan’s most precious blood!” Mirror’s eyes snapped open as the familiar scent drove her into a crazed frenzy that instantly overcame the spell induced lethargy. “Who dares! Who dares hurt Aryan!” The tiled roofs rattled loudly as the snarling kitten dashed towards the unmistakable smell. Then worry overtook her anger when the bloodied scent strengthened rapidly as she approached the desolated guardhouse, “No, it can’t be! Aryan, Aryan! Answer me! Don’t leave poor Mirror alone!” The loud clatter of shattering glass stripped away the night’s silence as she crashed recklessly through the nearest window.

“Aryan… Aryan…” The horrified kitten sobbed as she eyed the blood pooling beneath the supine prince, “What do I do? How do I save you?” Mirror wept hysterically as she darted forward to cradle him tenderly in her arms. But just as her fingers brushed against his bloodied flesh, she recoiled in agony as the liquid hissed like highly corrosive acid against her flesh.

“That very evil witch! She did something horrible to poor innocent Aryan!” Mirror yelped in pain as she rubbed her smoking bloodstained fingers against the nearest wall. “Nobody can save Aryan now!” She wept in despair as she slumped down a safe distance away from him. “Fishes, who will bring me happy fishes now that Aryan has become an evil monster?”

…

“The Great Temple? Of all the places in Calcutta?” Zinnridi spluttered with some surprise as she strode towards the imposing structure. The weasel sighed with inward relief as he trailed at a safe distance behind the imperious girl stomping up the stairs. He had been racking his brains for a scheme to lure the princess into Dagon’s lair before the entire city’s inhabitants were slaughtered, but it now seemed that his efforts were unneeded as she had practically made a beeline for the place from the moment she had exited the guardhouse.

“Fae-fi-fo-fum,

I smell the stench of a rotting fish on land,

Be it live, or be it dead,

I’ll grind its bones into sand.”

The girl jeered as she rested her palms against the massive steel gates barring the entrance of the temple. For a fleeting moment, it would have seemed impossible to any onlooker that the slender girl would even be able to make the slightest dent on the barrier. But the moment passed as the loud screech of deforming steel shattered the night’s silence when the girl tore the gates from their hinges and flung them aside effortlessly.

“Enough!” The temple shook with rage as it was filled with the divine presence of the god of the northern seas. “My patience wears thin, foul witch! Even if you are under the Caretaker’s protection, it does not give you license to rampage throughout my city and desecrate my shrine!”

“Considering that you’re just a useless fish, Dagon. You certainly have some balls to address me in such a manner.” The girl mocked condescendingly as she stared straight at the massive obsidian many handed fish-tailed statue looming over her.

“You will regret offending a true god, mortal.” The statue rumbled as it raised one of its arms and summoned a mighty blade of darkness to strike at her.

Safely hidden within the shadows, the weasel frowned with consternation as he observed the heated exchange, “Dagon? But when did she even learn about Dagon?” He muttered softly to himself.