A Glimpse of Power Unleashed

The air in Oakhaven, usually thick with the comforting scent of woodsmoke and baking bread, had taken on a distinctly acrid tang. It wasn’t the usual delightful aroma of Elder Borin’s perpetually burnt toast, no, this was the smell of fear, sharp and metallic, like a goblin’s breath on a cold morning. Lyra and I huddled together, our small frames pressed against the rough-hewn wall of our cottage, listening to the growing clamor outside.

“What do you think it is this time?” Lyra whispered, her voice a tight thread of anxiety. “Another stray griffin? Or maybe a particularly aggressive flock of sheep?”

“Given the screaming, I’m guessing it’s something that eats sheep, not just bullies them,” I murmured back, my mind already racing through every worst-case scenario. My brain, bless its overthinking little heart, was a veritable factory for disaster scenarios. We were Elara and Lyra, the twins who’d been born under a dim star, the ones Elder Borin affectionately (or perhaps not so affectionately) referred to as “the village’s decorative liabilities.” Strength meant everything in Eldoria, and we had the magical equivalent of a wet noodle.