The Greats
Grace Neech
Anyone who was there that day, no matter what side they fought on, swore there was an almost eerie glow surrounding the two enemies. A girl with hair black as soot, and eyes as blue and as unrelenting as the ocean. A boy with dark brown hair covered in ash, and eyes as green as grass.
“Just give up the throne: you’ve no hope for success now!” the boy yelled from across the battlefield.
The girl narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists.
“Do not challenge me.”
Her voice was a whisper but the whole world fell silent, as if hoping for an end to the war that destroyed everything they lived for.
Silence.
They took the bait.
Every soldier that had set foot on the field lunged at her thrusting weapons into flesh and hoping they found their target. The boy stared at the discord unfolding in front of him. Sympathy and a desire for justice battled for supremacy over his actions. Sympathy won.
“Stop”
As if a thread had pulled them back to the earth, the soldiers stepped back, dazed, revealing the girl standing there wearing her cuts and bruises like a crown. She smiled.
“Was that supposed to hurt?”
Murmurs swept across the field. The murmurs gave way to shouts of alarm. The girl was gone. Vanished. The boy heard a soft laugh behind him before she whispered:
“You really have no idea what I am, do you?”
The soldiers lunged at her with the force of the gods, but she ran anyway. They dragged her in front of him, her hands bound behind her back. He looked down at his opponent, bloody and broken. She struggled against the soldiers, but they dragged her off anyway. She whipped her neck round and screamed two words…
“They’re coming!”
He watched as fear flooded her face as she continued to scream at him. He knew. He was ready. While she was planning battle tactics, he had been pouring over every inch of folklore the massive town library had to offer, and he found them. The lesser ones, the half-ghost, half-human ones who were the puppets of the Greats. Half-shadow, half-something else, they could shapeshift, teleport and all who disobeyed them were killed. There was one “good” Great with black hair and blue eyes, the girl. Too bad she didn’t recognise him. Humans and Greats had been sworn enemies since the beginning of time until the girl, Tessa, betrayed them. One thing was for sure, the Greats had far worse punishments than death, all they had needed was a captive, and now they had one. He smiled and muttered under his breath:
“Watch out Tessa…”