I am running out of Words.

I stumble down the temple steps, clutching my wounded side. I had been too slow to use my fourth Word and the prison guard’s spear had drawn blood before he choked to death under the weight of my suffocation spell. Now I am in a race against time, trying not to die within the confines of the city.

I distantly register that the setting sun bathes everything around me in a bloodred hue, from the skies to the stone steps I’m running on. I hope that this is not an omen that my blood will be shed soon.

I reach the last step and run for the gate but someone steps out of the shadows, blocking my way. I halt and brace myself. I recognize the wicked smile and the gaunt figure dressed in the tattered garments of a scourge priest. It is Rathan H’liẹ́, high priest of the death god and my jailer for the past three years.

Seeing his evil face almost weakens my resolve. I suddenly remember everything he has done to me. I remember the moment I was captured, when he walked up to me with a ritual dagger and cut out my tongue because he was afraid of my Words. I remember several nights in my dank cell under the temple when he tortured me for hours, invading my mind with his magic to find out the secrets of my people. Like every human I had met, he was both repulsed by me and fascinated with my power.

“It seems your former masters weren’t entirely truthful about your abilities,” he says.

I grin at him.

“Why do you smile, demon? You know you cannot escape. Not as long as—”

I raise my right hand, showing him what I’d retrieved from the altar in the temple. A black fist-sized gem, shattered in the middle. The gem that made it possible for him to capture me, a stone forged by his evil goddess for capturing my kind. I watch in silent triumph as his eyes widen with realization and he scrambles backwards, a portal appearing behind him.

He cannot escape me.

I say a single Word. The high priest catches fire like dry kindling and falls to the ground. I run past him and out of the temple gates, ignoring his pitiful screams.

I have two Words left. I must use them well.

The city of Nitsha spreads out before me, prosperous and wicked, the home of humans who attack and destroy the things they fear. They had destroyed my home, the city of mages in the south, and taken me prisoner. I had been a prisoner in the city of mages also but they treated me well. Spirits like me cannot live free in the world of men due to several restrictions from the gods but while I lived with the mages, I was treated like a human.

I touch my face, wishing I can see my reflection again. I had been given a human skin by the mages and my body is that of a young human girl. From memory, I know that my skin is a dark shade of brown and my eyes are golden. As I look upon the city, a gentle breeze blows against my face and I smile.

It feels good to be free, but I don’t have much time left. The guard’s spear had been coated with dust from the mysterious black gem, so the wound in my side only worsens as time passes. The only way to heal myself is to use a Word to remove the impurities from my body.

The Nitsha empire had raided the city of mages in search of artifacts of power they could use to increase their power and conquer other lands. They killed all the mages and captured me. I used my second Word that day, killing half of the invaders in an earthquake but the high priest appeared with the gem and bound me when I was too weak to resist. Using the Words requires a lot of energy and it is difficult to use more than one in one day. But right now, I am fueled by my anger and determination. I cannot feel the exhaustion that should come with using my fourth and fifth Words within a few minutes.

I toss the gem to the floor. I have rendered it useless. I cannot be bound, not anymore. It had been difficult to concentrate, locked up in the temple with wards around me to prevent escape, but after a long time, I finally remembered how to use the Words.

I used my third Word to give myself a new tongue. The third Word is silent and spoken in the mind, which made my tongue’s restoration possible. It is a Word of healing and transformation, similar to the sixth Word, which I now utter.

My human form dissolves. My body stretches until I am much taller and my skin becomes like molten silver. Though I cannot see myself, I know I look majestic and terrible, a sight not meant for the eyes of lesser beings. Three pairs of fiery wings unfurl from my back and lift me up to the sky. I laugh, feeling the wind in my face. I feel alive for the first time since I reached this world. I feel free.

I am an Eleda, an angel of creation. As a member of the younger generation among my kind, I can only speak seven Words in my lifetime, unlike humans who speak several words every day. My Words carry power because every time I speak, the power of the cosmos follows my words and makes them reality.

The first Word I uttered created new worlds. My last Word will end worlds.

This is why the mages bound me, I know. They were scared that I was going to use my last Word to wipe out all of humanity. I never intended to do that. Using the last Word means I will also cease to exist. I didn’t want to die in this strange world of humans. I wanted to pass away among my kind, dissolving into stardust while my brothers and sisters sing hymns to accompany my soul into oblivion.

But now, I let my wings take me higher till I can see most of the kingdoms below. I see wars brewing, innocents getting slaughtered and humans destroying their own world out of greed. I see the good part of humanity too, but it is greatly overshadowed by the darkness. Soon, the rot at the heart of mankind will spread until there’s nothing left.

There is only one thing I can do for the few good people left on this earth. Perhaps I am a little selfish, since I am about to die anyway. Even now, in this exalted form, the wound in my side is draining my life force. But death doesn’t scare me anymore and I know better than anyone that every end is just a different kind of beginning.

This world needs to be rebuilt. This world needs to be saved. And I am the only one who can do it.

I close my eyes and whisper the last Word.