Magick

Something I competed for a class. My classmates seemed to think it was good, so I decided to post it, just for kicks.

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I'm running, running for my life. Branches whip my face as I stumble up the steep incline. My sandals long gone, sticks and stones rip my feet to shreds. I gasp for breath, my side burning. I have to escape, but I hear them closing in. Their torches flicker through out the forest, casting eerie shadows on the ground. I wince as I plunge onward and something squishes under my toes. The dogs want my blood. They snarl and howl as they fight the leases of their masters. Teeth bared and glistening with saliva, they will slash me to pieces, my entrails seeping onto the forest floor. But they won't let the dogs go, not unless they're desperate. They want me alive, to bring back and punish publicly. I trip over a root, and fall toward the ground as if in slow motion. My hands go forward to block my face from the ground, but it makes no difference. One lone tree branch, sticking out to the side, comes at me. I can see it coming, thick and sharp. I scream as searing pain shoots through my head, my eye punctured by the errant branch. Blood gushes everywhere and I go on screaming, clutching the slimy mess running down my cheek. Now gone from its rightful place, my eye drips down my face and onto the ground below.

I don't even notice when the hunters come and grab my arms, I only sob as they drag me along the ground. The Goddess does not even give me the gift of unconsciousness as I feel everything that is happening to me. Someone once said that you can only feel pain from one part of your body at once. Someone was wrong. My shoulders feel as though they will be yanked from their sockets, every time my body is dragged over a new lump. Rocks bite into my back, dragging their sharp points through my unprotected flesh. My lightweight dress is in tatters, doing nothing to protect me from the ravages of the forest floor. Through this all I do not stop screaming, and the hunters kick me from time to time, in an effort to shut me up. Finally I hear more voices, and I am dragged out of the forest and into the view of the town. There's a fence all around, and it leers over me in the night. The hunters stop and murmur, keeping their faces hidden from the guards. No one is allowed to know who the hunters are. They exist to kill, to root out traitors, to hunt down runaways. We start again, and now the gravel grinds on my wounds.

The pain has surpassed my level of feeling, and has faded into nothingness now. I stop screaming and breathe, examining my situation. Townspeople are gathered all around me, staring and murmuring. They are so self-righteous, with their fancy codes and rules. They condemn anyone who dares to be different, who dares to show a sign of spirit and happiness. I suddenly feel a blaze of power to my left, and glance up at an attic window. Rainbow colored light swirls around the panes. The idiots are all so focused on me, they don't even notice their upcoming doom. Suddenly the face of James appears in the window, and my heart warms at the sight of him. He is my everything, the other half of my soul. We had been intimate for awhile now, ever since we had met in the hovel the villagers dared to call an orphanage. They took all those who had lost families, and shoved us in one room. We were given the barest essentials, and forced to work night and day. This was their idea of charity, what their God wanted. So we learned to hate their God. We turned to other protectors, ones of kindness and light. We discovered the Goddess, and the joy of being one with her and the earth. Now, they persecute us as witches; burn us to death at the stake. We had endured, tried to reason, hid. Finally, there was nothing else to do. All those who believed, or even just those who didn't want our persecution, were gathered in the attic.

Everyone there had cast their strength into a protective circle, one that would guard those within. Only James refrained, ready to complete the final stage of the plan. I had allowed myself to be caught, made quite a spectacle of it. Now no one would notice anything besides their sick torture. A rope of light came streaming towards me, pulled from James' body, and funneled into my chest. I quickly recited the spell I had devised for this occasion, one that might kill me.

Goddess light, Goddess fair, help my spirit, one with air.
Save my brethren, kind and true
Remove all those who didn't care
My body will be your channel, send your magick through
If I must perish with them, that seems only fair.
But if you find it in your heart, save me as well, save me too.
So mote it be.

I cast my power into the spell, and feel my body surge as a current of white hot heat shot through my every pore. I cease to be, my being becomes a ball of power. Spears of light shoot off from my body to encompass the villagers. I feel my conscious float away, to settle above the scene, watching everything. As the light hits the villagers, they fall to the ground peacefully, there seems to be no pain. On a rare occasion the light surrounds them and leaves, leaving them alive but very confused. When it gets to the village priests, I see them shake as though afflicted, and scream in agony. It seems the spell affects people depending on how evil their spirits are.

Soon its all over. I float to the attic, to find James hurriedly erasing the circle, everyone alive and well. He runs down the stairs and out into the square. I follow him disinterestedly, vaguely wondering where he is going. Everything is surreal, nothing really matters. I float down to the square, to find James staring at my body in astonishment. I glance that way and feel mild surprise. All the wounds are healing. Even my eye is normal again. I suddenly feel my consciousness jerk, and I'm towed back toward my shell by an unseen force. Settling over my form, I am suddenly alive again. There is thankfully much less pain this time around, and I feel the last of my injuries healing over completely. I open my eyes to see James hovering over me anxiously, and a glowing figure standing behind him. She smiles and whispers to me, then disappears.

"Goddess Bless, my child."