Chapter 5

Bothered by images of the dead, Miracle sloped her bag off her shoulders and stomped towards the deeper layer of the barrier in the house. She swiped her hand across the invisible entrance embedded inside the backyard. Upon her call, the rippling net twinkled into view and wrapped her in. She made another swipe, erasing tiny hints of its appearance the moment she immersed fully. Camouflaged.

With a deep, long breath, she let it out in one glance, the beast she had held captive for days.

And instantly a pure white dragon engulfed the shape of the humans' goddess, taking over the blacks in her eyes. A flow of soothing chill ran through her skin and the disguise was erased by the glimmering carp scales along her body. Deer-like horns, fangs and claws refined themselves when they felt strong traces of divinity from the silver fronds reacting to her original presence. Too thirsty to be embraced by the air, the animal roared and swirled hungrily up above as if the air was a part of her.

Closing her eyes, Fire, be with me, she monologed. It had been a while to feel like this ever since she stepped away from her world.

Heat rose in the creature’s body. She blazed a continuous ray of blue fire into the sky but dimmed off when it came into contact with outline of the barrier. Fire swords came surging from her mouth, dashing across the space and bounced back soon after. Turning her head around, the dragon floated a few fireballs at her eagle claws and commanded them to be of any sizes. She blasted them into the small pond covered by water lilies.

Mynheex, fallen angels, to save mortals for the sake of my species, I'll not let you win, she swore, releasing the anger and guilt she had towards the victims.

"Miracle? You done?" Hayden called as she turned into the lady figure and entered the living room.

"Oh, yes. What's wrong, Mr. Hayden?" Miracle asked, wiping off her dripping sweats with the upper sleeve of her T-shirt.

He gave her a fatherly smile. "Free to follow me to the market?"

She looked surprised. "Now?"

"Yes. Let's go."

"Alright. Give me a second to change my clothes."

***

They strolled along the bike path as the wet market was within their walking distance. Hayden folded his arms over his chest, while Miracle gazed far beyond, into the sky at the other end. Its tone was darkening. Grey cotton wools shielded the rays from hitting directly on the tar. It was a sunny, but gloomy evening. And because the attempts of turning this island into a developed one like Pulau Tioman, Pulau Perhentian were still in progress, vehicles moving about were rare to see.

"Let's see, hmm... what shall we have tonight?" Hayden said as he stepped into the small crowd surrounding varieties of meat displayed in the icebox.

"Raw meat," Miracle uttered unexpectedly.

Thank goodness, Hayden didn't hear her. He was busy flipping the meats, using public spatula to test for the freshness of the targeted slice. Miracle walked away, leaving him alone to fight for better pieces with the remaining aunties and uncles. The groceries mortals have daily – vegetables, dried herbs, processed meats, nothing was interesting to her until her feet came to an unexpected stop in front of a butcher stall. Sounds of knife hitting onto the chopping board, separating the flesh into smaller chunks were seducing. Miracle gulped her saliva, watching the blood sliding from the board, onto the ground. Her favourite food was right in front of her.

"Yes, ah moi? What you want?" The butcher asked, eyes met with hers as he pricked the hooks into the chopped ones to hang them to the pole.

Shyly, she shook her head and stalked away. What was she supposed to say? The rawness of the meat was driving her crazy?

Suddenly, while she was still frowning for not having the raw, shivers swam down her spines as if somebody dumped her a bucket of ice water. Dropping the tomato in her grip, Miracle rushed out immediately.

"What was that?" she spoke to herself.

To the place her instincts were leading her to, she ran into the dark after sending a worried glance to Hayden at the counter. He quickly dug for a RM100 in his pocket and shoved at the cashier without looking for any change. The staff went clueless, but Hayden had no time to explain. He rushed out, chasing to keep up with the dragon girl’s speed.

Their anxieties rose to a higher level each time they scanned through a street with nothing in return. The evil anonymous energy was everywhere, interrupting Miracle's instincts of leading her to the right source. But the moment they passed by a deserted alley behind the tombstones, that was when they realized it was going to be too late.

The victim looked like he was struggling to stand upright, and the beast was enjoying its meal. He was so weak that he barely had any energy left to defend.

"Fire! Come to me!" she shouted at the malevolent glare as it drifted its attention away from the poor boy.

Fast enough, Miracle ran and slammed the opponent, drawing out new lines of cracks along the broken ground before it had a chance to defend. A strong beam of fire was shot directly right into the malicious body and green slimes were splashed onto her face. When the first time didn't work out, she locked the wicked creature down with both her knees and continued shooting the beams into its chest. Within seconds after a few attacks, the body was starting to burn. But, not the demonic soul in it. Right in front of her revealed eyes, she saw the evil spirit turned into a glaucous foam and escaped to mingle with the air.

Miracle tried to trap it down but was a waste of energy. "UGGHH!! DAMN IT!" She threw her punches into the brick wall. "DAMN IT! DAMN IT!"

Hayden approached and cupped the victim lying dead on the cold surface. Miracle stood there in silence, feeling a sense of defeat she had never felt before. Guilt rushed in as she saw the vicious wound across his chest. His flesh was torn opened, and the sight of the dislocated bones at the ribcage was pulling the strings at her heart.

Crouching, she extended her trembling hand to feel the boy, "What’re we going to do about this, Mr. Hayden?" She choked on her voice. "W—would he be alright...?

"Miracle..." He sighed. "W—wait...that's—" Hayden caught sight of the moving tool inside the wound. "Miracle! Do something! He still has his heart with him!"

"Fast!" He urged when Miracle wasn't inching to save the boy from becoming the fourth victim.

Jerking out from her state of shock, she hissed to the air, "Be with me."

A warm breeze went passed them, tingling the fine hairs behind her neck.

Miracle pressed a small portion of the air onto the boy's forehead and hints of white glow escaped from the gaps in between her bloody fingers. "Oh air, please be kind to this boy and safe his heart," she whispered.