Cipher Code {complete}

Chapter Four: Century Myths •EDITED•

Even though he was only nine, Esau understood fear perfectly. It was the feeling that made you freeze when you faced danger. An unpleasant emotion that made your stomach turn and forced you to run away from something scary. It was something that kept you alive.

Esau understood that perfectly.

He had been afraid before, and there were many times when he had fled from the sight of what he thought was terrifying. But he couldn't do that now. He couldn't bring himself to.

The nine year old knew that he should be afraid. Trying to save his sister could get him wounded and killed. But right now no part of him cared.

Even though Esau had never liked getting hurt, he forgot all of his terror in this moment.

He couldn't afford to freeze, because larger fears had taken over his limbs.

He was scared of losing his only sister. He was scared of what his Ma and Pa would think if he went back without her.

He was also scared of being alone.

Above all, Esau was terrified that he wouldn't make it in time. Because for now he could only watch in horror as his sister's trembling body was slowly cut into, ready to be torn apart by the beast neither of them had seen coming.

And even though since she told him run, Edythe hadn't made another sound. Esau could almost feel her pain as her eyes snapped shut and she went dreadfully still.

He wished that the distance between him and his sibling didn't feel like a kilometre long divide.

To him the beast's teeth gleamed like little daggers as they sunk into Edythe's shoulder then moved to graze her neck, the top half of her once blue dress transforming into a bloody mix of garish red.

Untying the straps that secured the bundle of blazestones to his back, Esau threw the stack of powdered crystals at the wolfish beast just as it was about to dig it's claws deeper into Edythe's side.

Now Esau ran purely on instincts, his mind fixed on only one objective—getting that damned beast off his sister.

As the cluster of blazestones connected with the side of the beast with a burst of heat and orange light. The bundle burned and crackled as the creature stumbled back on it's hind legs, it's jaw disconnecting from it's unmoving victim as it's balance was thrown off.

Esau was there just in time, never once stopping in his sprint as he rammed into the snarling beast with all his strength, sending it reeling back in shock and pain as it let out a pitiful whine and collapsed to the bloodstained ground.

He caught Edythe before she could fall to ground, trembling the moment her blood touched his skin.

Everything happened before the few townsmen around them had time to process it. But as a few minutes passed, the reality that there was a monster right in front of them slowly sank in.

Panic followed shortly after as they all backed away, most running to their homes and boarding up their doors and windows.

The rest stayed behind, their minds filled with a sick sense of curiosity as the beast slowly got back on it's feet, blood the shade of the darkened sky dripping out it's mouth.

It's jaw had been dislocated by Esau's blow and it's annoyance was eerily obvious. In that moment it seemed more human than wolf.

It growled, and the circle of men expanded as they shuffled back.

Lacau was a hunting town so all the observers knew that the beast had been weakened considerably by the attack, but regardless of that fact they also knew that it was at it's most dangerous state—it was cornered.