The Calamity: Chapter 3

“Alright Alistair. You got this. Just focus on my face.”

It was dark, the grass was soft, still drying from a recent drizzle. A fire was crackling between the two. The sky was dark and there was a breeze going through the air but not penetrating the trees yet. The pair stared at one another, one floating off the ground and the other sitting, both cross legged. Both had lighter toned brown skin, dark brunette hair, larger brown eyes, smaller noses and small mouths. Mirror images of one another.

At least until slowly the features of the one sitting down began to shift. The eyes got slightly smaller, nose flatter, jaw a bit squarer. He bulked slightly, muscles gaining definition and mass and even a few inches in height. His hair got shorter and some sprouted from his chin and mouth. The girl gave two thumbs up with a wide grin.

He tried to smile in return but it crumbled along with the changes. Gone was the facial hair, the jaw, and muscle definition. Gasping for breath he slumped his head forward and let his shoulders droop. The floating girl frowned slightly and reached out to her brother’s shoulder.

“I can’t do it Alison. It’s too hard.” There was an edge of defeat in his voice that threatened to overtake it entirely. He looked at his sister through the strands of hair and his features were an exact mirror of his sister’s.

“You’ve been saying you can’t do it since we were kids,” She chided floating closer. “You used to never think you could be out here what was in there.” She pointed at his chest and smiled. “But you’re getting there.”

“Only because you’re helping me,” He said with a hard frown. “You’re the magical prodigy. You’re the one who can bend all of reality to your will. All I can do is make myself ‘bigger’.” He threw slender quotes around the word.

“It’s called you’re over thinking it.”  Floating closer to her brother again she lifted an arm. It was thin and long, matching her own. “You’re good at adding to this. Making mass, muscle, definition and even rebuilding yourself. It’s simple and straight forward. Easy peasy.”

She let it fall and poked his forehead. “But these. Eyes, cheeks, and nose. All of those things are smaller. You’re not making them bigger, you’re gently nudging them.” As she spoke magic drifted from her fingers. Smoothing over the features with a gentle mask that attached to his face. Giving him light stubble, more defined cheeks, slight raises of the eye. Gentle strokes of a sculptor’s chisel.

When she finished, he was frowning at her but touched his new face. Tracing his jaw, prickling against the hair and couldn’t help the smile that appeared there. “I don’t know if I still like facial hair.” Even his voice was a bit deeper, something that was always weird no matter how many times it happened.

“Well when you master it you can change it yourself.” She said covering her mouth as she yawned. “Also, you should cut your hair.”

Suddenly he got self-conscious reaching back and pulling his long almost waist length hair forward. “What’s wrong with my hair?”

She pulled her own hair forward, though it was only shoulder length. “Well most people assume only girls have hair that long.”

He frowned. “But I really like my hair.”

“Don’t get me wrong. I do too but I don’t want some jerks comment getting to you.”

He continued to frown not sure about that and just nodded. He reached back and slowly tied the hair together around itself into a pony tail and frowned. “Do you think we should stay here for the night? We’re getting closer to the Free City.”

Alison turned slowly. “I don’t know. I hate sleeping outside like this but I don’t know how close we’re going to be to any sort of civilization. I want a bed.”

“I do too. Plus, I’m getting tired of carrying you,” He flashed her a grin but she glared at him. “I’m kidding sis. Don’t hurt me.” Lowering his head, he clasped his hands in front of him. She blew a raspberry at him floating toward the fire.

She placed her hands on either side of it and watched it dance aggressively under her control. It flexed and twisted as she stared at it. Her eyes glowed, coming to life and she laughed a high trill.

Throwing her hands up the flames erupted to the sky in a pillar of heat. Alistair covered his eyes at the sudden radiance in the night. The heat was scorching and he was a few feet away. He could imagine how hot it was as close as his sister was.

Just as quick as it rose to the heavens it sank down to almost embers cooling between a circle of rocks. She let out a shaky breath her body shivering. Alistair knew what this was and rushed to her side as she floated to the ground. Her legs touched it and she wobbled before collapsing under her own weight.

If her arms were thin then her legs were basically sticks. “Your legs are never going to be able to support you Alison. You know that.”

“I know that but I wanted to try. It’s hard to accept that I don’t have working legs.” She frowned, scrunching her nose as if this was a puzzle to solve, a problem to fix. And not just facts that she had to accept. “I’m too tired to fly.”

“We’ve had a long day. Undo the glamour on my face. I need you awake.”

“What are you talking about? Just let me sleep on the walk over.”

He picked her up, moving her so that she was clinging to his back, her arms wrapped tight around his neck but not to restrict his breathing. “No way. If we’re doing this you have to suffer with me.”

She whined and pumped his back with weak kicks. He laughed shrugging off the blows but felt the changes. The softness of his features returned and when he sighed his voice was the familiar higher pitch.

Walking to their campfire he kicked dirt into it until it couldn’t even properly flicker. Neither of them had anything to call their own. The clothes on their backs and a small coin purse, lighter than it used to be.

Readjusting his sister, he stepped into the forest and began walking. “Alison, am I going the right way?”

She raised a hand, her finger glowing. She swung it left and right the light fading when she deviated from the direction directly in front. “You are. You paid attention.”  Fighting the urge to yawn she pressed her face into his hair.

“I did. I wish our map was still in one piece but someone misplaced it.”

“I wonder who that someone was?”

He glanced over his shoulder at her. She made her face glow as if she were an angelic presence. He went back to ignoring her and focusing on walking. Tripping over a rabbit hole would be a special kind of terrible.

It was so quiet at night. An owl in the distance, no snapping branches or twigs. They were probably the biggest thing out here and no animal would try and approach them. The moon wasn’t doing much to give them light though so the only way he knew where he was going was his sister pointing the way.

Ducking under a branch he glanced back at her for a moment and frowned slightly. “Do you remember when you first manifested your magic?”

His sister blinked at the question. “Where did that come from huh?”

“Just something I was thinking about. It was a big day for both of us.”

She smiled and nodded. “Grannie and grandma were so worried. I just started floating out of nowhere. Flying around our room without a care in the world.”

“A four year old who can fly and do God knows what. I’d be worried too.”

“It’s not like you weren’t doing things either.”

“Oh, you mean the sudden growth spurts that they couldn’t make sense of? Not quite the same thing sis.”

“Well it was bad when for an hour one of their grandchildren was taller than grannie and the other was floating with their head against the ceiling.” She could see it now, one tiny little girl float against the ceiling with mixtures of bliss and terror every time she looked down.  Another one suddenly tall, with long arms and torso. A fully adult body and not entirely sure how it happened.

“Both of them couldn’t stop shouting. Grandma kept trying to corral you down from the ceiling.”

“She almost got me with the fudge. But I couldn’t float down enough to grab it.”

“You were crying a lot. Like all the time. I think you even got dehydrated from it all.”

She hit him hard and he just laughed her off again. “You know what did stop your crying?”

She rolled her eyes turning to look away and into the forest itself. She heard a branch creak and glanced at up. A shape in the darkness flapped through the air. Tapping her brothers shoulder she pointed up. His own eyes turned a very dull gold and grew bigger. For the barest of a second, he could see the owl as it swooped through the air before it slipped from his grasp.

“The only person who could stop me from crying and get me down from the ceiling was my twin brother. Who was also crying his eyes out at the time and barely string together words let alone sentences.”

“Don’t you mean big sister?” he said in a voice that echoed with doubt.

Two hands found their way on either side of his head shaking it back and forth quickly as she made a noise of annoyance. “No. My twin brother. Who’s a stubborn little pain in the ass.”

“Hey, I think I’ve earned the big brother mantle at the very least. I’m at least taller than you.”

There was an audible pout on his back. “Fine. Big brother.” She messed with his head again, shaking it back and forth again. The trees creaked around them in a haunting melody. “Go there.” She pointed to the left a clearing of branches and trees. There was even light in the distance silhouetting a few homes.

“Looks like we might get a bed tonight after all.” Several claps and a squeal sounded from his sister.

Leaving the forest behind the winds of the plains hit them like a chilly slap in the face. Squinting Alistair took a slow step forward as he shivered. The grass below was bent nearly double as they forced their way through it. They walked like this for some time, Alistair keeping his head down to ward off the wind directly in his face. Alison kept her head against his back as well using him as a shield. “Where did this wind come from?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“I don’t know. Didn’t know any of this was here from the trees.”

Suddenly the sky was illuminated as lightning flashed above them. The wind howled around them as the rain started to pour. Cold and icy precipitation soaked through their clothes and trying to pierce the skin. Alistair started running almost immediately, slipping on the grass here and there but kept going best he could.

At least until he found a rabbit hole and tripped. His leg went into it by the toe but it was enough to send him stumbling head first into the ground. His eyes went wide not because of him hitting the ground but because he was going to send his sister flying and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

He put both hands in front of him feeling the magic flow through him. His hands hit the ground and he winced ready for the pain anyway but it didn’t come. His wrist didn’t crack under the impact as he did a weird impression of a push up. The wrist muscles were bulging far larger than they should have. Taking a slow breath, he let the magic go as the muscles righted themselves back to normal.

The pain did resonate from his knee though. Grunting as he moved his leg and glanced down at it. It was bleeding hard and it was hard to move it a few times. But he glanced over his shoulder and his sister looked back at him. Her eyes were wide and chest rising and following rapidly. He flashed her some combination of a grimace and a smile.

“Well at least you’re not hurt.”

“But you are.”

He grunted slightly as he tried to right himself. His knee was shot at this point. The rain hadn’t let up either. Another bolt of lightning flashed in the sky above and thunder accompanied it moments later. He winced as he touched the knee and frowned.

Alison looked at his knee and then back at him. “You can heal this.”

He glanced at his sister and frowned but he nodded. “I know.” Taking a deep breath, he nodded. Reaching down he touched his knee and it stung in immediate response. But he kept holding it to the point where his own grip was hurting him. Focusing on that pain he concentrated and felt the warmth in his palm that originated from his knee instead. He felt the bones and muscles shifting underneath the skin. Forcing itself back to where they should be. It was hurting more than he thought it would have and his head sank slightly.

Gasping suddenly, he felt the knee pop into place. His head jerked back and eyes flew open. Water poured onto his face and the cool touch did so much good. He was vaguely aware of his sister clapping beside him. He gave her a weak thumbs up but fell against the ground exhausted.

“Well we’re stuck out here.” He said with a frown.

She pat, his head lightly. “Relax. You did good.” She raised her hand and her eyes glowed. A half circle formed around them parting the rain on either side of them. An umbrella or protection form the rain. “I may be tired,” she yawned. “But I can at least manage this much.”

He nodded from the ground closing his eyes slowly. “Just give me a few. I’ll get us to town and a bed.”

“Yeah yeah.” She laughed. “Take your time.”