The Beast - Part One When Sofi had first been presented to the council she was fifteen and very new to her powers. The council had been cruel, even then, even in her magical infancy. The small room where they gathered was always dark and always warm. Sofi would always remember the smell from that very first visit. Back then she did not recognise the tangy smell, or the sickly sweet odour - blood, excrement, urine and vomit. The smell of slow and agonising death. Galen had worked to the entrance of the chamber but pushed her through the door - grinning a maniacal grin - when Sofi looked back she would say she hoped there was an apology in his eyes, but deep down it was the look of a wolf feeding the lamb to the lions. Sofi could feel the magic in the air - tensely waiting to snap. She drew a protective shield around herself and waited. And waited. And waited. The magic left the room and with it sucked her shield from her. Alone, with no defences, and no idea why she was there Sofi trembled, but refusing to be cowed by what appeared to be another of Galen's tests, she jutted her chin out defiantly, bracing her soft body for the attack she knew would come. But an attack never came. Slowly the heat intensified and the air grew heavier, until it was much like breathing through water. The room grew entirely dark, and her senses felt cut off. She could feel something softly tracing in her skin, and then cool breath on her neck. A relief from the endless heat of the warm air.