The wind howled madly, threatening to tear my face clean off. The skin on my face was being pulled by the air, my mouth kept forcefully open.
All around, the plane was disintegrating, hundreds of sharp components hurtling down covered in flames.
I was hurtling down, my limbs flailing around uselessly. A few hundred feet below me, I could hear my brother screaming at the top of his lungs, his arms spread wide while the rest of his body bent at an awkward angle, all at the mercy of the wind. I squeezed my eyes shut and reached for a neural link.
Magnus, the ground is getting closer! he shrieked into my mind, as if I couldn't see the canopy below rising up to meet us.
Idiot, mistify us!! I screamed back frantically.
I can't !! Came the shocking reply. Joshua had never been a fan of mistification. Even when we had sneaked into the Altican castle, it had taken all of my will and power to keep him molecularized.
What do you mean you can't! Now's not the time for preferences!
The ground was definitely closer. A vast forest covered as far as my eyes could see.
It's not about preferences!! I can't mistify! Joshua wailed into my head. And that was the first time I actually began to panic.
You do it!! He urged frantically.
I had already tried that the moment the plane came apart and discovered I was still too weak to use my powers properly. I relayed this information to my brother and I swear I could hear him sob.
I don't wanna die!! Joshua wailed pathetically as we got closer to the ground.
Snowstorm!! I screamed into the neural link, but my brother was too busy mourning himself.
I don't wanna die!!!
Aghh... I tried moving my hands but they still felt like they were made of lead. I pushed a hand forward, the wind threatening to snap my fingers. With every ounce of strength I had, I pushed the second forward as well. The act of moving my hands was akin to lifting a mountain. I would know, trust me. Whatever Catherine's toxin was, it was good.
But I wasn't going to die because a mortal drugged me. I, who waged war on the fell beasts of the second circle. I, who held the doors of the hundred. I reached deep into my soul and forced out every ounce of frost I could muster.
A small breeze was all that I could manage.
AHH, come on!!!
And then, just four hundred feet from the ground, my powers erupted. Wave after wave of powdered snow gushed out of my hands with so much force even the wind could not push it back. It fell so much that soon a two-hundred-foot snow peak rose above the trees.
I watched as Joshua screamed his way into a landing, his figure forming a human-shaped hole. There was no time to ask if he was still alive. I landed with a heavy 'pluff', a wave of snow rising high behind me, but just before I sunk deep within the life-saving powder, I heard the sound of a parachute deploying.
*"*
I struggled out of the snow after what felt like an eternity buried under. The first thing I saw was the mangled and destroyed body of a flight attendant, her head flattened, with brains spread everywhere.
The snow gave way beneath someone's pressure and Joshua emerged from within, groaning.
"So that's what you meant by snowstorm," he whispered before resting his hands on his knees. I wasn't in the mood to answer him.
My body felt strange. My limbs didn't feel heavy anymore but my powers... I must have used everything I had left to save us.
"You've had those powers for a millennium and you still can't mistify?" I asked, turning to him.
"Don't bring it up. I've tried, believe me I have. It's not just my thing."
"We could have died!" I yelled angrily and then immediately checked myself. There was a body on the ground, but not everyone was dead. "We could have died," I whispered furiously.
"Why are you whispering?" Joshua asked, finally standing upright.
"Shush," I whispered even more furiously.
"Don't shush me!" he retorted stubbornly, his voice increasing in volume. He pointed at the rising smoke not far ahead and then at the woman on the ground. "Think anyone would survive falling twenty thousand feet?"
I rushed to him and covered his mouth with my palm. At that very moment, a twig snapped. Joshua pushed me away and turned around.
"Who's there?" he yelled into the trees. "Show yourself!" But the only response we got was the terrified shrieking of a million birds and insects. He turned to me and smiled. "See?" He gestured towards the forest. "They're all dead."
I was just about to tell him about the parachute deploying when a shrub next to us began to rustle and shake. We both turned slowly towards it, Joshua's hand already glowing a dangerous blue. We both slowly made our way towards it, as the rustling increased in tempo. Joshua raised his hands to strike and, in that final moment, a tiny creature jumped out.
I couldn't call it a rabbit. It had beautiful, black, pristine fur, with dark red eyes. It had the body of a rabbit but its head was akin to a goat's with short, stubby horns.
You would call it strange and terrifying, but my brother and I were used to seeing things out of the ordinary. I tried remembering its name but my head was just too cluttered. Having a thousand years' worth of memories would do that to you.
Joshua burst into a fit of laughter. "Is this what you're afraid of, brother?" he teased. "What's happening to the great Magnus Sterling? Afraid of a little woodland creature."
He reached down to pet it and that's when I remembered what it was. A Dorjet. Small, cute creatures with a ravenous appetite and very violent temperaments. They were carnivores with extremely sharp teeth.
Plus, there was one last detail... aghh, I tried my best to remember but it kept slipping.
Joshua reached down and picked the creature up. "Hello, little one," he said happily. "Who's a cute little abomination... you are... yes, you are."
And then I remembered. The forest around us came alive with the shaking of trees and shrubs. I looked up at the trees to see hundreds of Dorjets staring down at us.
These evil little flesh-eaters hunted in packs of thousands.