I Am Lightning

The brute leered down at me, a shadow covering his face, his teeth seemingly too big for his mouth. His breath betrayed him with its stench of liquor. I tried not to react, when all I wanted to do was throw up. Quickly I took another bite of the meat and bread.

The glorious flavours of the juicy, spiced meat and sweet butter along with the fresh, thick bread consumed me for a moment as I focused on it. I chewed, the flavours melting through my mouth, and forgot for a moment about the man. Until he slammed his fist down upon my table with a loud thump. A bard who had been strumming a tune somewhere in the room stopped, and all at once the whole inn seemed deadly quiet. The man leaned in to me, and I really did almost puke, his breath was that foul.
“Didn you hear me? I asked you if you’re deaf as well as ugly?”

I was so tempted. If I so much as placed a finger on him, I could kill him in two seconds. Oh, not that I would! I’d just surprise him a little. Maybe make him fall to the ground. Everyone was staring at the two of us now, and I knew I’d have to do something. The current coursing through the man was writhing crazily. He was getting really angry. Clearly, he was someone who couldn’t take being ignored.
Which is why I was starting to kind of enjoy this. But I knew I’d have to say something.
“I don’t think Lord Martin would appreciate you treating his guest in such a way,” I replied, turning to look him straight in the eyes. I saw him flinch, as though my eyes were that shocking. Heh, shocking. His were a mud-brown, similar to the eyes of, I don’t know, everyone? Everyone had brown eyes! Although they were all of differing shades, it was just the same thing over and over to me. But then, I had seen so many different eye colours throughout my lifetime, whereas these short-lived people had not.

“The Lord’s guest, eh? I don’t give a rat’s arse who are you!” the man growled, confusing his words. His bottom lip was quivering slightly, and he bent over so his face was in mine. I stood up, my stool making a grating sound across the wooden floor. Every person watched us now, including the stunned wife of the inn keeper, not noticing the meat starting to slide from a plate she held.
“I think you really should care who I am. I’m going to have to ask you to back off,” I said to him, in as calm a voice as I could. “You’re about to lose that,” I said to the pudgy woman, pointing at her plate. She quickly righted it, then went back to staring at us. I looked back at the angry man standing next to me. He seemed to be trying to think of what to say. I’d guess the liquor was holding his thoughts back.
“You- you’re one of them magic folk! Your eyes are the wrong colour! We should call the town guard, and let them take you a good look! Where’d you get all them scars, then, hey? Had a fair few fights then, hey?”
“As a matter of fact, I have,” I replied. And before anyone could so much as blink, I lifted my right arm and punched the man square in the face. I heard a satisfying crack as his nose broke, and he fell to the ground in a dead faint.

I felt a grin start to raise my lips and just as everyone in the room started to react, I froze. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. I ignored the crowd around me and focused instead on the horrifying aura sweeping about outside. Something had just entered through the town gates, and the strongest, most overwhelming aura of darkness cloaked it. In forever trying to be attuned to that sense of darkness in order to track it down, this sudden blast of it overwhelmed me, and I almost fainted. I clutched at the table, and fought to keep down the panic rising within me. What on Earth had just walked through those gates?