Fire Breath [FanFiction]

Chapter 1
Devils

„Aurora”, a woman hissed a whisper sharply. „Aurora, wake up!” The whisper grew louder and a hand laid firmly on the arm of a girl and shook her. The blonde moaned in disapproval and hid her face further into the dark space formed by her crossed arms upon the table. The hand around her arm began to tap it as the woman demanded again. „Come on, child. We have work; wake up!” The dream she loved so much had already vanished, but the sleepiness remained. She vaguely remember where it left off, and perhaps if she ignored nurse Cassidy long enough, she would give up and let her continue her slumber, but that wasn’t the nurse’s intention. She grabbed a nearby vase of flowers and let the contents fall on the girl. Aurora shrieked and inhaled a deep air of breath as she swiftly leaned back in the chair with her hands hanging in mid air. „What the-?! That wasn’t necessary, you know!”, she said harshly. „Oh, hush! You would’ve continued to slack off if I didn’t wake you up”, she said quite proudly as she held the empty vase under her arm. She was a short and round woman in her 40’s. She had a small, round face, thin lips and dark round eyes with dark, fair hair and a slightly olive complexion. Aurora pulled the sleeves up her palms and began to dry her eyes and face with the fabric. „I had a really good dream, though!”, she protested. „You’re supposed to dream at night, not during the day. What are you going to do at night if you sleep now?”, she said as she set the vase down on the desk. The blonde heaved a frustrated sigh as her fingers searched for the dry flowers in her damp hair. She felt the chilly air on her skin due to her top being soaked in the old water and she couldn’t help a shiver running up her spine. „How long have I been sleeping for?”, she asked through a shivery exhale. „A couple of good hours, I assume. It’s already noon. Hurry, put on your cloak and shop for groceries. We need bread, eggs, grapes-” „Why do I have to do the shopping? Can’t someone else at the hospital do them? There are other apprentices, too”, she said bitterly as she slid the last flower out of her hair and tossed it aside. „Oh? Would you rather wash the elders instead?”, the nurse tauntingly puckered her forehead and tilted her head towards her. Aurora’s face twisted in disgust. She sighed defeated and helped herself up from the chair. „I’ll do the shopping”, she muttered, staring down at the desk with a frown. Nurse Cassidy grinned widely at her victory and began to playfully wiggle her forefinger in the air whilst her other fist laid on her hip as she began to walk from one direction to another and back. „Good. Now, where was I? Oh, yes... we also need sugar, olive oil- are you even noting?”, she asked and suddenly stopped in her tracks to look at her. „I’ll remember them.”, said Aurora as she was already tying the brown cloak around her neck. „Is that all?” „Not quite... actually, yes. That’s all.” Aurora flashed a chaste smile and nodded her head lightly before she stormed out of the room. „Don’t run! You’ll disturb the-” The door slammed shut and the nurse flinched. „-patients...”

Aurora hurried downstairs and took the amount of money she considered she needed from the front desk. She had a pretty face, not too skinny or chubby with big blue eyes and rosy cheeks. She had long, blonde hair that reached her middle waist with bangs covering her forehead. What drew everyone’s attention to her were her eyes... crystal blue hues that seemed to belong to the supernatural. She grabbed the handle of a basket and off she was on her way to the plaza.

The air was thick with the smoke coming from the local bakeries and grilled meat. It was filled with all sorts of aromas and perfumes, and there was not even a single patch of clear air. The sky was covered with thick, grey clouds that varied in size and scale. She pulled the hood over her wet head and hid the basket in her cloak as her top was still soaking wet. She felt each breeze like a chilly late autumn wind. ‚It’s her fault, if I catch a cold’, she thought.

The place was crowded as usual and the merchants chanted their songs. Aurora skipped to the first shop she saw that had a few of the requested items and checked the prices. The eggs and grapes were fairly cheap, but what she noticed from the corner of her eye made her think twice about purchasing them. There was a demon, small and burgundy with bull horns on it’s head. It had the body of a skinny child with long nails like claws, a prominent jaw with fangs sticking out of its mouth from its lower canines and pitch black eyes. It sat perched on the edge of the stand and laughed its hoarse laughter as it feasted upon a tomato. The little devil turned it’s head to Aurora and wiggled its long, bifurcated at the tip tongue at her as it grinned widely. She grimaced and left the stand. The whole plaza had little devils at each stand. They were tasting or drooling on the goods and laughed at the foolish people who bought or tried them out. They flew and walked among them – some were even stalking them home. Alas, she was the only one who could see them. It was one of the reasons why she disliked to shop, or get out of the hospital in general.

Wings batted behind the blonde and she heard the hoarse chuckle of one of the little monsters. She swatted her hand back in an attempt to shoo it off, but in vain – she tried to make it look less suspicious, also -, the devil only moved to the other side and landed on the ground just a few steps behind her. Aurora rolled her eyes. „Go away”, she hissed under her breath, but the devil had other plans. She turned her head slightly to look at it. It was a grey one and slightly bigger than the burgundy devil she had witnessed at that stand. She shoved her arm with the basket out of the cloak and swung the basket at the devil. The devil dodged it and quickened its pace. Aurora huffed and quickened her own pace as well, however the devil began to copy her every move. She ignored it. What else could she do? The place was flooded with them, after all. The devil, however, jumped in her basket which startled her. „H-hey!”, she shrieked and shook the basket. Its little claws hooked around her wrist and began to climb up on her arm. Aurora gasped and tensed her shoulders. „Get off!” She began to flail as it climbed further and yanked the hood down her head. Her face flushed bright red for she could feel the painful stare of the commoners on her. It stung, but she couldn’t do anything about it either for the devil was tugging on her hair. „Get-... get off! G-... stop!”, stammered and flailed Aurora. She tried to hit the devil or at least swat it away. Goodness... everyone must think she was nuts. She had no choice, she had to run and so she did! Darkness engulfed her sight of the road as her hood was pulled over her face. Her feet randomly took her from one direction to another in a zig-zag pattern. However she couldn’t run forever... She lost her balance and stumbled over her own feet. With a yelp, she landed over a few empty barrels that began to roll in random directions. The devil laughed and flew away, leaving the poor girl in distress.

Aurora was laying sprawled out on her back. She placed a hand on top of her head and slid the hood off. „Ugh...”, she murmured. Her sight was blurry from the tears forming in her eyes and her face was as red as a cherry. She could feel it burn with the shame... the shame that terrible little monster made her go through. She shut her eyes tightly and sniffled a bit as she got up in a sitting position. By the looks of it, she was out of the plaza. On either side of her were the thick walls of two buildings; she figured behind her was a dead end, or a narrowed street. At her side, on the ground, was her broken basket. „Oh, no... nurse Cassidy will kill me”, she muttered as her fingers stroked the crushed thing. „Nurse Cassidy, huh?”



//This is my first fanfiction in English. Give me a break! ;u;