Jordan was sitting on the porch, waiting for Tharrus to come home. It was a warm summer night, and fireflies were floating about in the end of another lazy day. Just another week. She reminded herself. One more week, and I'll be back in Nineveh. Tharrus always liked bringing her out in the country during the summer. It was just to keep her safe when she wasn't in school; there were plenty of ways a Minian could get into trouble in Nineveh, and the thought of her being home all day made her mother crazy. So the compromise was that she'd live in the city while she went to school, but had to live out here in the middle of nowhere when during the summer. She had to admit, though Nineveh had things to do, it was nice to get away from the weekly rampages of some Minian that just learned how to throw fire or something.
She checked the time. 11:00pm, and still no sign of Tharrus' car winding up the dusty old road. She pulled her necklace's pendant, thought about opening it and summoning him. Tharrus wouldn't know she'd used her powers, and she'd finally have someone to talk to. She held it in her grip, but turned back to the trees. She'd give him ten more minutes.
The otherwise still night of croaking toads and chirping crickets was interrupted by something. The leaves in the nearby trees swished unnaturally, and she heard a small branch snap before it slowly fell to the forest floor. Probably a couple squirrels. She thought.
"Jordan Styx." Jordan heard the voice before the footsteps. She turned around to find someone standing between her and the door back inside. He was a man of average build, carrying a large book under his arm. "How long did you think you could hide?"
The obvious thing to do was run, but he'd expect that. She kept her necklace hidden, clutching it tightly and ready to open it. He started walking forward, and she backed up. "Who are you? What do you want?" The question wasn't just to buy time; this person wasn't wearing Enforcement armor, and didn't have any kind of distinguishing insignia on his clothes.
"He took me, and He brought me back. It is for this reason He calls me Enoch." He said, still advancing. He suddenly stopped, opening his book and flipping to a random page. "You, Jordan Styx, are a summoner. From the moment of your conception, you were commanded crude imitations of life, breathing breath into the dust just as He did for us. But, this not your crime. Six years ago, you caused the death of an innocent man, Randal O'Niel." Jordan knew what he was talking about. Randal was far from innocent in her mind, but if she'd just listened and kept the pendant shut...
"I was still learning how to use my powers; I didn’t have any control over them before.."
"And you don't to this day." Enoch said, closing the book. In a flash of light, the book vanished from his hand, replaced with a sword that reflected the light of the moon and held it. "The abomination controls you more than you do it. Your life and its... existence have grown so tightly intertwined that one cannot be undone without the other. You and it will become one in the same, and I cannot allow such a monstrosity to run rampant." Sword glinting, he charged toward without another word. Jordan flicked open the pendant and pressed her hand to the rune inside.
Enoch's sword was caught a few inches from her neck, its momentum stirring a breeze. A tendril of black miasma had moved to block the strike, bending and shifting under the weight of the swing. Enoch had to jump back to dodge the torrent of shadows that came slicing toward him, almost invisible contrasted against the night. Something with strange markings along its body walked past her. The rune on the inside of the pedant was etched into its skin, over and over again, and an iron held a crack in its chest shut. A soft light could be seen inside it, contrasting against the shadows that bent and bowed around it. From a distance, nobody would notice its muddy skin.
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