Make Me Care

Eulogy

“Once upon a time…no wait, that’s how a story with a happy ending starts. Where do I start? Well I’ll start off with telling you about this kid at my old school. His name is Risit. Let me tell you what he’s like… he’s a jerk, an ass, and he had stopped caring about everyone a long time ago. Everyone at our school thought he was a pacifist because he had never been seen in a fight. You may think that avoiding a fight in a school is perfectly normal but where we come from, being a pacifist is out of the ordinary. I guess I should stop babbling and get on with it, huh?”

There was a pause.

“To start off, our school is different. In normal high schools, it takes about four years to graduate. Our school has a fifth year which is designed to train the students for a certain specialty. You see, everyone at this school will be put into a program when they graduate. Nearly all of them are trained for use in combat. Oh, and there’s one more thing…we’re not exactly normal…”

Days

1. School
2. My Horrible Luck
3. Emotionless
4. The Brink of War​

Day 1 ~ School

It was the start of my third year. The day started off with a loud buzz that came from beside my bed. It was my alarm which I had set to go off at seven o’clock in the morning. As I reached out from under my covers, I found that the small table that was supposed to be near my bed was…well…not close to it. The buzzing continued and it soon felt as if the noise was attempting to engrave itself inside my head. I pulled the covers off and slowly opened my eyes. My first reaction was pain. Someone had pulled the curtains wide open which caused the light to strike my face. Groaning, I sat up and shielded my eyes with my right hand. When my eyes adjusted, I noticed that the table had been moved several feet away from the bed.

“Stupid Josh.” I said as I gritted my teeth. Josh was my roommate and he just loved to pull pranks on anyone he met. The only good thing about this was that it did force me out of bed, for which I had to be thankful for.

After a few seconds I managed to switch off the alarm, although I could still hear its painful tone echoing in my ears. I crouched beside my bed to grab a small black case underneath. Opening the simple leather case, I pulled out the first thing I laid my eyes on. A plain blue shirt and a pair of green cargo pants. I changed clothes as quickly as possible, put shoes on, then stuffed the case back in its ‘home’. I did not bother to look at the mirror and worry about how my messy hair was, it’s not as if I had anyone to complain about how I looked. I left the room, knowing that I still had around two hours before class started.

It took me only about a minute to get outside and step onto the pavement. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, people were playing on the grass, two guys were playing catch with a ball of fire… It felt like a pretty normal day but I didn’t feel too cheerful about the fact that today was the first day of class. From the looks of it, just about everyone was happy to be back. I could literally see the glow coming off of everyone.

“Watch out!”

I jumped to the side, feeling a searing rush of hot air brush against my cheek. The two that had been tossing around the flaming ball had lost control of it and nearly killed me. If I was anyone else, I would’ve kicked their asses…but I wasn’t much of a fighter and solved most of my problems by just avoiding them.

The two boys ran up to me with a slightly worried look on their faces. It was hard to believe, but they were genuinely sorry about it. I could tell.

“Sorry about that! Are you alright, man? We were only messing around and I didn’t catch it and…sorry!” The one who spoke was pretty short and had spiky green hair. I would’ve laughed if I hadn’t nearly been killed.

“I’m fine. Just a little surprised.” I calmly spoke, placing a hand on my cheek where the fire had nearly connected. “I’m assuming you both have the same power, otherwise one of you would be toasted by now.”

They laughed and the one with the unusual hair spoke once more. “Hey! I think I’ve seen you before. You’re that one guy…uh…” He scratched his forehead as he tried to remember my name. I would have remembered someone with hair like that so I probably had never met him before.

“My name’s Damon Carraway.” I muttered, wanting to stay away from the conversation…they did throw a flaming ball of death at me, even if it was an accident.

“So what’s your power?” The male eagerly asked, probably trying to find out whether or not I was someone who could put on a good ‘show’ in a fight.

“I can see someone’s aura. Helps me know the emotional status of a person and…that’s about it really. Kinda lame, huh?” It really wasn’t the best power ever, I still had no idea on how to use it in a fight although I did my best to stay away from one.

The boy almost seemed amused by my answer and a bit disappointed. “Oh…well…I’ll see you in class later.” He turned around and briskly walked away with his friend. When the two were far enough, I could see their aura’s grow. They were laughing at me.

Sighing, I headed straight across the grass field and shoved my hands in my pockets. As soon as I stepped back onto the pavement on the other side, I bumped into someone. I flinched and jumped back in surprise, in all my life I had never just bumped into someone without knowing they were there. I could always feel someone’s aura nearby or see the shine come off of a person a few hundred feet away.

I caught a glance at the person I bumped into. The first thing I noticed gave me the chills. There was nothing surrounding him except empty space. No glow, no shine, nothing for me to sense. It was almost as if he wasn’t even there. The male continued walking, staring straight ahead as if nothing happened. He looked a bit older than me, he had pitch black hair that…well, it was hard to tell how long it was since it went down his shoulders and blended right in with the shirt he was wearing.

“Er…sorry.” I waited for a reply. He stopped and shot a quick glance over at me. His gray eyes looked right into mine, giving me the impression that he didn’t want me speaking again. The stranger turned his head away and kept walking, meanwhile I released the air that I had been holding in. “That was creepy.” I said under my breath. I looked up, my eyes passing the rather simplistic design of the grayish-blue fortress-like building to spot the clock tower that watched over the field. Although the time of day was shown with the clock hands, the date was displayed with a large monitor underneath.

My eyes hovered over the date for a moment. 12 July 2180.

I knew that I still had plenty of time before class started. After turning away from the clock tower, I continued walking. It didn’t take me long before I ran into a group of three fifth-years. It was easy to tell them apart from the others, as most wore an arm patch with a black cross to show that they had completed basic schooling. In most schools, you would find bullies at every year but in this one…well, the fifth-years were so frightening that trying to show that you were ‘the boss’ at any other age guaranteed that you would be hospitalized. There was a massive difference in power between a fifth-year and any lower year student. When one graduates from their fourth year, they immediately begin training and are placed into the specialty courses. …Anyways, this group seemed pretty adamant on not letting me pass. I turned around and not to my surprise, I found myself staring at two more fifth-years.

“Do you want my lunch money?” I joked, hoping that they would think I was funny enough to not deserve a beating. The joke didn’t seem to cause the slightest flicker in their reddish auras. I was so screwed…

Next thing I knew, I was on all fours gasping for air. My vision blurred and I coughed out some blood. I could hear them talking about using me as a punching bag. In a way, that almost comforted me. At least I knew that they wouldn’t rip my limbs off or set me on fire. I did my best to remain still, thinking that if I did not move, that they would continue talking and that it would buy me some time to…sit there and bleed some more.

“Get up!” I yelped in pain as my hair was yanked, forcing me to stand up quickly. As soon as I felt my hair be released, a fist connected right into my chest. I didn’t fall though, someone was keeping me up. The fist made contact with me once more, this time it hit my jaw. I slumped over slightly, my eyes barely able to focus on the bloody fist as it drew back and then flew forward.

I closed my eyes tightly, hearing a sickening crack. …I didn’t feel the fist ever touch me. I opened my eyes slightly and saw that the one who was about to hit me was on the floor, clutching his arm. I could see part of a bone sticking out of it. I dropped to the ground when the ones who were holding me, let go. They were afraid. But why?

“Mind your own business Risit!”

“You‘re not gonna win!”

They shouted a few other not-so-polite things at the one who had saved me. I was too busy staring at the blood dripping from my mouth to watch the fight but I did figure something out. One, I couldn’t sense the presence of the newcomer. Two, I had heard the name Risit before…it belonged to some guy who had set a few combat records and never bragged about it…I think. Lastly, I knew was blacking out.

Day 1 ~ Part 2

First thing I heard when I began to wake was something that sounded awfully a lot like someone knocking on a door. I lifted my head and groaned, feeling as if I was floating but yet still touching the ground. When I opened my eyes, I noticed the same guy from before…Risit I think. He was beside me and staring straight ahead at a metallic door. Took me several moments but I soon realized why I felt the way I did, he had been holding me up and had dragged me to what I soon noticed to be my next class. “Thanks…” I muttered, finally standing up on my own and pulling my arm away from his grip. “Why did you drag me to my class?” He had saved me from being placed into a hospital bed so it was only natural to wonder why he took the extra effort to also take me to my class.


Risit did not even bother to look at me and for a second, I thought that he would ignore what I said. “If I didn’t take you here, the fight could have easily been blamed on me. By acting helpful, it makes it a lot easier for someone to believe that it was all in self-defense. You’ll vouch for me if any questions are asked.” He spoke so plainly that it just seemed like he had the whole thing planned out, what really got to me was his monotone…it wasn’t the kind that made you want to sleep but it just felt like there was nothing behind his words, it’s hard to explain.

Before I could say anything in reply, the door opened and a tall blond-haired man stuck his head out. “Ahh…Risit. What are you doing with my student? Was there a fight? I’m sure you were involved. I can tell.” Seriously? He could tell Risit was in a fight? I glanced over at him to check if he was roughed up as much as I was, I didn’t need to check though, I already knew Risit didn’t have a scratch on him.

“Take him. He can stand already. Blame the damage done to him by the four I recently sent to the hospital wing.” With that, Risit turned around without waiting for any response. He was gone before I could say anything to him. I turned back towards my teacher, who was smiling.

“Sir…?”

“He never started out as anything special…but just look at him now, it makes a teacher proud to see his student make such a drastic improvement in such a short amount of time. Although Risit always sticks away from competition. Must be because…” He trailed off and shook his head quickly before stepping to the side. “Sorry for bothering you with my reminiscing. You’ll understand when you’re older.” One of Mr. Valan’s obvious traits was his need to go off into random speeches about things he remembered, mainly about old students of his. It tended to be annoying at times because it would slow the pace of things down but it did give people the chance to trick him into not assigning any homework.

I took a step forward and nearly lost my balance, if Mr. Valan hadn’t grabbed my arm at that moment I would probably be kissing the floor. I clutched my stomach and winced as I attempted to take another step, this time successfully.

“Do you need to go to the hospital wing?” Mr. Valan asked as he let go of me.

I shook my head, not wanting to open my mouth again afraid that I’d spit out a tooth if I tried. I slowly made my way to the back of the classroom, avoiding the concerned looks some of the other students gave me.

“You’re pretty messed up man.” I heard someone say as I took my seat in the last row. My eyes focused on the image projected on the front board. It was a triangle that looked as if it was standing on one of its vertices and at each point a small counter-clockwise swirl projected outwards. I recognized it as part of the insignia of the-

“Physical Training Level Three.” Mr. Valan said aloud as he paced back and forth at the front of the class, his voice caused me to lose my train of thought and look at him instead of the symbol.

“I know some of you may think of this as a lesser class compared to the combat courses.” He continued. “But!” The students who were already dozing off jolted upwards. “How can one expect to fight if one does not have the physical endurance to last in combat?”

He was excited to start off the year, as always but I didn’t understand why we had to sit in a classroom for half an hour before he actually made us do anything. I looked down at the smooth black desk in front of me and tapped my fingers against it, remembering a few stories about how desks used to be made out of wood. Seemed kind of silly to me. Why would someone make something out of wood? It burns, it’s not as strong as metal, and it wasn’t as flexible either. I sighed and glanced at the digital clock placed just inches below the ceiling. I knew we would not do anything the first day of school, we never did. My thoughts went back to Risit, why couldn’t I sense him? Mr. Valan had a bright aura that seemed to demand my attention and the other students around me all had relatively dull colors surrounding them, signaling that they were sleepy.

“I heard Risit saved you.” Someone whispered to me from my left. I turned to see that it was a girl who looked to be the only student who wasn’t falling asleep. “Are you two friends?” She curiously asked, her aura flickered gold. She was obviously eager to get a story out of me.

“First time I’ve seen him in person.” I answered. “…Er…do you know anything about him?”

The brunette shifted in her seat and shrugged. “Not really. Other than his reputation and something about him going through a huge change in personality about two years ago. …I’ve heard that he may not even be human!” She leaned in closer and looked around quickly, making sure the teacher wasn’t looking our way. I moved backwards, uncomfortable with both her aura and her distance.

“Sounds like you’re a fan of his. Why?” I looked off to the side, pretending to look at something…on the wall.

The girl groaned and put her hands on my shoulders, shaking me slightly. “You’ve seen what he can do!” She hissed at me.

“Not really. I was kinda too busy bleeding…” I replied, glancing at her as she rolled her eyes at me. “…But he did take on five fifth-years and come out of it without a mark on him.” The girl smiled and took her hands off of me.

“Wish I could have been there. That must’ve been amazing.” She paused, her aura gave me the impression that she was daydreaming.

“So you don’t know anything about him?”

The girl snapped out of it and opened her mouth before closing it and frowning. “…No, but I know someone who does. His name is Morin Camon. From what I know, he’s the only friend Risit’s ever had. Plus he‘s a fifth-year as well.”

I nodded slightly, beginning to wonder how I would find Morin when I did not even know how he looked like. This girl was the only person able to help me and I really needed to find out more about Risit and why my powers were useless on him. “Thanks. So-”

“Why are you asking about what I know about him? Learning about him?” Her aura turned red and for a moment I thought I could feel heat coming off of it. “You’re not gonna do that without me. I’ve been wanting to meet him longer than you have.”

“Uhh…” That went easier than planned.

“I’m Rhia Sedel and you are?” She leaned forward once more to my dismay.

“Damon Carraway.” The bell rang as soon as I spoke. That’s a little too early…I wonder if someone messed with the bell as some sort of prank. Either way, it gave me a chance to get out of class before Rhia made me even more uncomfortable.

I was the first to get out of the room since the other students were still half asleep. I made my way back to the field since my next class, Close Quarters Combat Level Three, was on the other side. I knew something was wrong as soon as I touched the grass. There was a large fight going on, fire was flying in both directions, parts of the ground were frozen, the pavement looked damaged, and there was blood on the grass.

The students in the fight all had one thing in common. They each had an arm patch with a black cross on it. “Oh crap…” The fifth-years had a much different schedule than the rest of the students, they were probably doing some sort of battle simulation thing…and I was twenty feet away from it.

“Are you stupid!? Get out of the way!” A deep voice called out towards me. Once more I found myself on the ground in pain. I looked up to see the one who had tackled me and raised an eyebrow…it was worth a shot.

“Are you Morin?” I asked, watching as the tall figure rose to his feet and flicked his wrist, causing a large rock formation to come up in front of us to act as a shield.

“Uh…yeah. Wait, how did you know my name and what’s it to you?” He wiped his forehead which only smeared it with blood that I’m sure was not his own.

“Lucky guess…I want to ask you a few questions.” I sat up then pushed myself upright, glad I didn’t lose my balance this time.

Morin tilted his head to the side and stared at me for several seconds, confused. “Are you crazy? You’re in the middle of our training and you want to ask me some damn questions!” I nodded in reply. “They get stupider every year…” He shook his head slowly and muttered something about his bad luck. “If I tell you that I’ll answer your questions at lunch, will you get the hell out of here?”

“Sure.” Like I had any other choice, the longer I stuck around the more likely I was to be killed. The bell rang once more. Someone had messed with it, probably Josh. I took a step backwards, figuring that I might as well go to my next class by…well, finding my way around this mess. Morin motioned for me to go and I took off running. Nearly getting killed twice in one day just made it feel like a slow morning.

Day 1 ~ Part 3

“Ow!” I yelped as my arm was twisted into an awkward position behind my back by the teacher.

“That was how not to throw a punch.” The short woman said, finally releasing my arm from her grasp.

I stepped back from the woman who taught the Close Quarters Combat course and held my injured arm with my other, gently rubbing it. The woman was new to the school, having been transferred here because the man who had taught the class recently vanished. I assumed because she was new, I would be able to last more than a couple seconds sparring with her. I hate being wrong.

Shortly after, Ms. Anahera(as she preferred to be called) began instructing us on some sort of fighting style that she said originated in Brazil. I don’t know since I wasn’t really paying attention to her and instead was staring at the clock placed on the other side of the room. Please hurry…

“Heads up!”

“Huh?” Before I knew it, I was knocked down to the ground and started to wonder if I should just lay down the entire day to avoid being pushed around. I found it hard to breath as my chest began to burn from being struck so hard. I pushed myself to a sitting position as I saw a girl with familiar face cover her mouth with both hands.

“I’m sorry!” Rhia shouted behind her hands as the rest of the class laughed at what had just happened. “I didn’t know you where there when I kicked!” She moved closer and knelt beside me, holding her hand out.

I coughed and took her hand, letting her help me stand back up. “I’m used to it.” I groaned, clutching my chest with my sore arm. At this rate, I was bound to end up in the hospital wing or get a funeral.

“Hey…” Rhia whispered, looking around to check that everyone else had returned to doing their own thing. “Did you find anything out?”

I breathed in slowly, trying to catch my breath and be sure that I wouldn’t cough when I answered. “Not exactly. Gonna talk to Morin at lunch though…” At my response, Rhia’s face brightened and it looked to me as if she was going to start jumping around. Was this Risit really someone who was that interesting? Did he deserve that level of attention from a girl who never met him? Either way, I just wanted to know why my powers could not pick up anything from this strange person.

“Remember that I’m coming with you!” Rhia hissed at me, giving me the impression that she didn’t trust me at all.

I nodded slowly and said nothing to save my breath. The bell rang. Finally. I turned away from Rhia who then quickly stepped in front of me to block my path. “Uh…?”

“Take me.” She ordered, placing her hands on her hips. I just wanted to eat something before talking to Morin, was that too much to ask? Regardless, this girl was not about to just let me have my way so I nodded once more. “Good, now lead the way.”

Truthfully, I had no idea where I was leading her to since Morin didn’t tell me where he would be during lunch. I assumed that he would be out in the courtyard since…well, I’m not sure but it was the first place that came to mind. I walked slowly, my hand still pressed against my aching chest. As I walked, my mind wandered off to other things, such as the world we lived in. I don’t know why I started thinking about it though, maybe I just had a short attention span or something.

The school I attended was just one of many places meant to train people with inhuman abilities for use in combat which didn’t really make much sense since just about every nation on Earth was united under a central government which was headed by what many considered to be a modern day monarch. People like me were used to “keep the peace” which was good and all but more than once I had heard that the government was abusive and killed anyone who tried to protest against how the government functioned. Things like that were quickly put down with word that it was just terrorist propaganda that was being used to weaken the system from the inside. Terrorists…well, there were a group of them that I suppose were the reason for the United Lands to have such a powerful military. The group was rarely ever mentioned but as I recall, the name they went by was something like Shau…or something like that. I never really heard much about them other than the fact that they would do anything to bring harm to others and use any means necessary to get someone on their side. I heard that there was this girl a few years ago that actually escaped the school and was rumored to have joined them. That also seemed to be the year that-

“Is that him?” Rhia pointed at a rather large male who was instantly recognizable as a fifth year student.

I took a good look at him and nodded, muttering, “Yeah.” Rhia grabbed my arm, still sore from Ms. Anahera’s abuse, and yanked me over towards where Morin was standing.

“Not so hard!” I complained in protest, although I didn’t try to pull my arm away for fear that Rhia would tear it off. As soon as we got close, Morin took notice of use and rolled his eyes. His aura wavered and in places it seemed to look broken. He was annoyed with our appearance.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t show up.” Morin’s dark brown eyes shifted towards Rhia. “Annnnnd you brought a friend. My lucky day.” He turned his back on us and began to walk away, heading over towards a door that lead back into the school. “I don’t want anyone to overhear us.” He calmly stated, opening the door and motioning for both Rhia and I to enter. The door looked rather old, rust chipped off of the handle when Morin opened it. I had never used that door before and assumed it must have been rarely used.

Rhia dragged me inside and let go of my arm once we reached the badly lit…closet. Well, it looked like it was a closet to me although it was completely empty and other than the light above us, there was just another door that lead somewhere unknown.

Morin shut the door behind himself and leaned against it in an attempt to keep his distance from Rhia and I. “What do you want to know about Risit?”

Rhia was the one who answered and nearly shouted which, when you’re that close to someone, hurt my ear. “Everything!”

“Like?” Morin really didn’t sound particularly interested in the subject of his own friend.

Rhia lowered her head and stroked her chin thoughtfully as her smile vanished. She obviously had no clue what to ask about first so I spoke while I still had the chance.

“Why is it that I can’t sense him?”

Morin raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, now his aura was glowing brighter than before which told me that I had sparked his curiosity. “What do you mean?”

“I can see one’s aura. I can sense a person’s emotional state and know what their feeling and how strong that feeling is. …But Risit’s is completely invisible to-well…actually, it’s more like he doesn’t have any aura at all. Like there’s this gapping hole wherever he’s at.”

Morin sighed out quietly and stood silent for several moments, his own aura darkened. In contrast, Rhia’s aura glowed intensely as she impatiently waited for an answer. “You see…Risit doesn’t have any…as you call it, ‘aura’ anymore.”

“Why?” I quietly asked, intently listening to Morin’s words.

“Long story.” Morin looked away to avoid making eye contact.

“We’ve got time.” I responded.

“Why do you both want to know about him? What’s he got to do with either of you?” Morin growled, his fingers began to tap against the door in obvious frustration.

“My powers don’t work on him. I’d like to know the story behind it. While she…” I pointed towards Rhia. “She’s just obsessed for some reason or another.” Rhia said nothing other than an agitated, “Hmph!”

Morin, probably knowing that he had no choice, then proceeded to tell us what was the deal behind Risit. “Fine…well, first things first. You should know that as of right now, Risit is the only nonhuman in this school.” Rhia excited whispered, “I knew it!” which prompted me to elbow her to get her to be quiet. “Risit never told me the name of his species but I know that he had powers related to his own emotions. When I met him during our first year at this school, he had a girlfriend and apparently the two were completely inseparable and pretty much head over heels for each other.” I could see a hint of a smile cross Morin’s face. “Those two lasted together for so long…until almost two years ago…” There was a long pause and for a moment, I thought Morin would not continue. “Let’s just say that this girl Risit was with, left him without even so much as a goodbye. …Risit’s kind is pretty unusual…you see…if they get their heart broken, they soon become devoid of all emotion. Risit and I don’t even talk anymore since he can’t even care about any friends he used to have…without emotions, nothing keeps him from feeling guilt about any of this.” Morin went quiet again and did not continue.

“What do you mean?” Rhia asked, wanting to hear more.

“He was never a fighter. When she was around, he made so many promises about how he would never fight unless it was to protect her. Within the school, there really wasn’t much he needed to protect her from and the times he had to fight because that‘s what this school is all about…well, he was always feeling as if he had broken his promise. Now that he isn’t burdened by emotions, he fights whenever he has to and thinks nothing of it.” Morin looked back towards us and seemed to be growing tired of just recalling memories of the past.

“What else is there about him? You said something about his powers being linked to his emotions…” She timidly spoke, her massive enthusiasm had been put down by the story which really seemed to cause her pain.

“Well, Risit had a lot of powers until that…thing happened. He told me that when he was angry, he could summon fire, when he was happy he could command wind, when he was depressed he could call lightning, and…now, his current power seems to dwarf all of that. He’s so much stronger and insanely fast. I heard that he easily beat several fifth years without getting so much as a scratch.”

“Yeah…I saw that. He saved me from a serious beating.” I commented.

“So that was you? It’s a little surprising that he intervened. I mean…he doesn’t-he can’t care about saving someone from anything.” Morin shook his head slowly and reached for the door’s handle. “I’m gonna go now. I’ve answered enough.” He opened the door and left Rhia and I without even giving me a chance to thank him for speaking to us.

“Woooow…” Rhia stared off into space and I knew that it would be pointless to try and get her mind off of what we had just heard. I guess I could spend the rest of this lunch alone anyways.

All students are to report to their dormitories. Classes will be cancelled for the day. The sudden sound of the intercom scared me half to death, I raised my head in a misguided attempt to try and speak back to the voice and ask, “Why?” It was odd that everyone should have to go to their rooms…it was the first time we were ever ordered to do such a thing. I looked at Rhia who had paid no attention to the announcement. “Er…I’ll see you later I guess.” I left the girl standing there by herself and stuffed my hands in my pockets, deciding to go to bed as soon as I got inside. With a roommate like Josh, it would be easier on my body if I slept instead of talked to him since it would probably result in me being tricked into heading into the girl’s bathroom…just like the eighteen times he made me do so last year.

Day 2 ~ My Horrible Luck

“Who are they?” The unfamiliar voice asked, causing me to stir in my bed and wake.

“Are you stupid!?” Another voice hissed in the darkness. “They’re them.”

“Who are them?” The first voice asked in a whisper.

I lifted my pillow and placed it over my head to drown out the voices, hoping I would soon fall asleep again. Then it hit me. Why were strangers even in my room? With a frustrated groan, I moved the pillow aside and sat up regretfully. I could just make out three figures in the darkness standing beside the window. I assumed one of them must have been Josh since he should have returned to the room by now, as for the other two…they could have just been his friends. “What’s going on…?” I rubbed my eyes and I pulled the covers off the bed so I could get off.

“Shut up Damon!” Josh practically shouted at me, causing the other two that were with him to elbow him in his sides.

I found my way towards the three, the only light in the room came from the display of my clock and a faint glow from a light outside. When I reached the others, I had to force myself between Josh and one of his friends to get a view at what the three were looking at. I saw nothing but the dim artificial light on the pavement. I squinted my eyes as I tried to see what was happening through the darkness but still found myself staring at nothing. “What’re you guys looking-”

“Shhh!” The three hushed me. They all seemed to have their eyes fixed on one particular spot and just continued to wait for something to happen. I bit my lower lip and anxiously pressed my forehead against the cold glass, hoping to find something of interest. It felt like an eternity, just waiting there in silence and I soon began to think that my time would be spent more wisely catching up on some sleep. Only when I pulled back just an inch did I finally see something. It was barely audible but I was sure I heard the crunch of grass out in the courtyard as well as see something move just outside the light of the nearby lamp post.

It was getting hard to breathe with the four us gathered around so closely near the window and I was beginning to feel claustrophobic. Nevertheless, I glued my eyes on the spot where I had seen movement. Now I could hear more sounds of footsteps, although for a moment I thought it was hail since the sounds came so fast. It just couldn’t have been hail or rain or anything of the sort since the pavement was still dry. Whatever was out there must have been fast.

A brief flash of what looked like lightning, struck out and branched towards one of the school’s walls, causing it to explode in a shower of sparks. During that instant, I saw three bodies in the courtyard. One person(I couldn’t tell if it was male or female) was running while two other figures were standing still, watching the person run away. The whole school must have been awake by now with such an attack, my ears were ringing from the explosion.

There was another flash. This time, instead of focusing on the direction it was headed towards. I looked at the attackers. The blue light lasted for a split second longer before fading. When it did, I had frozen in place and began to shiver. From what I saw, both attackers were male and the one calling out the lightning from his hands dressed in some sort of old school blue military uniform that I did not recognize while the other wore a long black leather coat with short sleeves. Their clothes alone were obviously not frightening but it wasn’t that which surprised me. The one with the leather jacket turned his head towards me during that brief period of time and stared directly at me with blood red eyes. If that wasn’t bad enough, his face wasn’t even human. His head looked more like a skull belonging to a jackal which was something I had never seen in my three years of being surrounded by people who were considered out of the ordinary.

I took a step back away from the window once I got the feeling in my legs back. That thing had looked straight at me. It took several moments for me to even think about looking out of the window again and when I did, it was merely a quick peek to see if anything else had happened.

“I think they left.” Josh said, sounding somewhat disappointed. “Did you see that thing?”

“Yeah. Well, my brother and I have got to get back to our room before anyone catches us.” Without another word, the two strangers pushed by me and left the room before I could even ask them for their names.

“Well it’s bed time.” Josh stated plainly, heading over towards his bed and falling backwards onto it.

“What were those things…?” I curiously asked.

“They were my friends, you jerk!” Josh laughed, thinking I was talking about the two who had just left. “They wanted a better view of the action since they don’t have a window in their room.”

I shook my head slowly, frustrated that he would simply ignore what I had meant by the question. “What about outside? I never heard about those things before! What were they after? Is that why everyone was forced into their rooms?” I walked towards Josh’s bedside and grabbed him by the collar, yanking on it to force him to sit up. There were times when he pretended to sleep just to avoid any of my questions and this was a time where I wouldn’t let that happen.

“Forget about it.” He dismissively said, smacking my hand away. “I only know about them from rumors. The two you saw were after a terrorist that managed to sneak in probably.” Josh began to lay back down but I grasped his shoulder. “What is it? Let me sleep Damon!”

“So who were they?”

“Elites! I dunno! Only fifth years know exactly what they are. Apparently those guys are the best of the best and are in charge of a lot of people. I think they even take orders directly from the Big Guy himself.” The ‘Big Guy’ was what Josh had nicknamed the man who had created the schools designed for people like us. That man was in charge of any and all military operations that involved those with powers. If anything, he was the one who practically ruled the world…it’s not like anyone out there could match an army of people with inhuman powers. So much for Democracy.

I looked down at Josh, wanting to ask more questions. As I opened my mouth to speak, I noticed that he was on his back snoring loudly. The ass always did that on purpose! It didn’t matter, I had another person from which I could get answers from. Morin, being a fifth year himself, must know more about those things that had shown up. I wouldn’t be able to find him at this time of day so I decided for some nice shut eye. My bed looked awfully comfortable…

~~~~~~~​

Today’s classes have been cancelled until further notice.

I shifted slightly in my bed at the announcement. At first I thought it would be an excuse for getting some more sleep but I was completely wrong about that.

“Get up Damon! Some chick’s here to talk to you. Get dressed already!” Josh called out towards me, throwing a pillow at my body.

I yawned and pushed myself up, looking around the room to see if Josh was around. The window was open so Josh must have slipped out after tossing the pillow at me and flew somewhere I could care less about. Flight was his power and to be honest, I was a little jealous but now wasn’t the time for that. It took me a few seconds to change into appropriate clothes and make myself somewhat presentable. Odd though, no girl would come to visit me. When I opened the door, I found out who would be desperate enough to talk to me this early in the morning.

“Hey Rhia. What’re you doing here?”

“Come on! I saw Morin walking around in the courtyard just now!” She excitedly grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the room, not even giving me time to close the door. Her aura was so bright that it really made me wonder if she was human. Then again, she must have just been a very peppy girl.

“Let me guess. You want to learn more about Risit, huh?”

Rhia tugged harder on my arm and once more I was afraid that she would yank it off at any moment if I didn’t hurry up. “Come on! Walk faster!” I kept my mouth shut, the girl was barely even walking and looked more as if she was jogging instead. At the pace we kept, we arrived at the courtyard in no time at all and that was when Rhia began to run.

“Wait up!” I jerked forwards as she pulled me along, looking ahead for any signs of Morin amongst the students. I saw him near a wall that had been completely wrecked. The attack from that guy I had seen earlier must have been the one to do the damage, it was impressive seeing as how I had never seen an attack leave anything more than leave a scratch.

Morin was not alone. Standing beside him(crouching technically) was none other than Risit himself who seemed to be busy inspecting the damage. At the sight of her hero, Rhia squealed with joy as her aura burst into an array of colors. I struggled to keep up with her when she began to sprint and was only thankful that the two were not much farther away. When we reached them, I took my time to catch my breath while Rhia stared in awe at Risit who paid her no attention.

“What are you two doing here?” Morin asked us in an aggravated tone.

“Can I talk to him…?” Rhia childishly questioned, timidly pointing at Risit.

“Leave us alone. We’re bus-” Risit cut him off as he walked over towards the three of us. He stood around three inches shorter than Morin which was admirable seeing as how Morin towered over all of us.

“They didn’t succeed.” Risit spoke in his eerie monotone.

“I can’t believe it.” Morin turned towards Risit and the two of them seemed to forget entirely that Rhia and I were standing nearby. “Even he was here and they didn’t manage to catch one. What if they did it on purpose?”

“No. They simply weren’t fast enough. Something must have caught them off guard or the escape was done by some untraceable method.” Risit replied rather quickly. Their conversation hadn’t been going on for more than five seconds and already I was dying to know what they meant by he and them.

“Tell us what happened!” Rhia suddenly blurted out, making the two turn towards her. Morin’s aura burnt a fiery red while Risit kept a blank look on his face.

“Leave or I’ll force you to.” Morin turned back towards Risit slowly, giving me the idea to pull Rhia away from the two before she got us into trouble.

“What are you-” She protested, quickly being silenced by a sharp yank on her arm.

“They’re busy looking into what happened. Bothering them right now isn’t a smart idea.” I whispered towards her, taking her to the only place I knew she would stay out of Risit’s way. It had to be in my sight since I was the only one keeping her from heading back with the others so my room was the first option that popped into mind. I glanced over at the brunette who looked away when I checked on her. Rhia’s colors died down and looked like they were simmering. It was amusing to see her in such a state.

As we neared my room, I heard hushed voices up ahead. Once more, it came from people I didn’t know. I slowed my pace and pushed up against the wall, trying to avoid being seen.

“They’ll find us here soon.” A male’s voice spoke.

“By the time they realize that we’ve been sneaking about, the barrier will be down and we’ll be able to return.”

“True…Do you think it was a mistake coming here? That boy is here. If she finds out, she may not want to continue with the ritual and attempt to find him.” Their voices grew more quiet. I could feel Rhia’s breath on the back of my neck as we continued forward. She was leaning in a little too closely for comfort…

“I can’t believe that brat still…” I couldn’t hear what the man said for moment. “…She’s a selfish child who refuses to accept any suitors that come her way. She’ll never be married off at this rate and we really need her to find someone for her soon before her father…” It was frustrating, it was as if they knew we were getting closer and lowered their voices to keep us from listening in.

The two speaking finally came in sight. The first thing that caught my eye was their long blue hair. It was as if someone had copied the color of the sky and had painted their hair that exact color.

“Someone’s here.” One of them spoke.

Crap! They turned in our direction and simply stared at us for a second. Instead of running away, I found myself staring at the tattoos on their muscular bodies. They swirled about as if they were alive. The two were too old to be students and it took me awhile to figure out what I was looking at. They were the people who were attacked last night and they must have been the Shau that I had once heard about. I felt Rhia tug on my arm and could easily sense her fear.

“They’re here! What are you two doing!?” Josh’s voice yelled from a distance. The two Shau in front of us said something that must have been from another language and then vanished into thin air.

I looked over at Josh who was being followed by a group of fifth years. Their auras all hinted at one thing. They saw what had just happened and were now intent on hurting Rhia and I.

“Traitors!” I heard someone shout. The door to my room must have been easily seen from the others’ point of view. It was wide open. Rhia and I had been standing not too far away from it and the Shau. It must have looked like we were hiding the Shau from the others and at this school, there was no trial for those who are suspected of being treasonous. Once accused with the smallest amount of evidence, even if it’s just a bunch of witnesses to people being at the wrong place at the wrong time, the only punishment was death. My life was over. There was no hope of getting away from them but somehow I still found the will to pull Rhia along with me into the room. I didn’t bother to shut the door since it would easily be broken down.

“What now!?” Rhia desperately screamed at me.

Without warning, I jumped out of the window with her. The room was only one floor up and the fall would do nothing other than give us some pain when we landed.

Thump!

Okay. I was wrong. It hurt a lot more than I thought when I landed on my feet. We took off running without any thought to where we were going. We just wanted to put as much distance between us and them as possible to delay the inevitable.

“Traitors?” The emotionless voice stopped us dead in our tracks. I turned my head slowly in the direction from which it came from, dreading each passing second more and more. My legs froze in place when I saw Risit standing no more than a meter away with Morin at his side.

“P-please…we didn’t do anything!” Rhia cried out.

“You saw the Shau?” Morin coldly asked, crossing his arms.

The shouts from the group who had spotted us were getting closer. Rhia and I had to make a break for it but even then if we made it out alive, where would we go?

“We saw them…” I nodded slowly, pulling Rhia a step away from the two. Risit and Morin looked at each other then back at us.

“Let’s go Morin.” Risit stuffed his hands in his pockets and started walking towards the direction from where Rhia and I had just come from. “Show us where you last saw them.”

We turned towards Risit in confusion, wondering why he hadn’t killed us yet. “What…?” I raised in eyebrow in confusion, thinking I had misheard him. Was he really talking to us?

“Show us.” Risit repeated without a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“We were looking for a chance to get out of here. It’s only a matter of time before we’re found as traitors as well.” Morin yawned and stretched his arms out, sounding somewhat bored.

“Traitors…?” I stared at the two, completely clueless.

“That story I told you?” Morin glanced over at us. “Risit wanted me to find a way to get himself and his…girlfriend out of here…so we had always been working on a way to get out of here. By the time we graduate, they’ll find out what we were planning.” He sighed and cracked his neck as he and Risit walked towards the group that were after us. There must have been over a dozen fifth years.

“You told them about her?” Risit asked, his voice staying in a monotone.

“I knew you wouldn’t care.” Morin replied calmly.

“True.” Risit stopped alongside Morin when the group grew close.

“Hand them over Risit! We want to tear them apart!” Someone in the crowd shouted.

Risit took a step forward and looked both left and right as if he was going to cross a street. I did the same and soon regretted it. Already we were surrounded by every single fifth year in the entire school. As powerful as Risit was, even with Morin, Rhia, and I…we would never last long against everyone present.

“Out of the way.” The way Risit said it left so much room for interpretation, without any emotion behind it, I was unsure if it was a warning, an order, or even a simple request. Someone from the group stepped forward, grinning widely.

“Not on your life. I’ve always wanted to beat the crap out of y-” The attack was so sudden it caught everyone off guard. Risit had just punched the guy right in the gut and knocked him back several meters. Without any warning, Risit moved towards the group and was on them in an instant. They went down so quickly I couldn’t tell if Risit felled them all with one attack or with individual strikes. Of course, they were caught off guard. The surrounding fifth years swarmed around us with the intent on killing the four of us. Morin slammed his fist into the ground which kicked up a massive amount of dirt and debris.

“Take me to where you saw them! Hurry!” I obeyed and tightened my grip on Rhia’s arm as not to lose her in the dust and took of sprinting as fast as I could. I had no idea why they wanted me to take them there but they must have had a plan of some sort. I hurried, knowing that at any second we could be surrounded once more. What the hell did I get myself into? One second I was eavesdropping, the next I’m branded as some sort of traitor? I stopped running and pointed out the spot where the two Shau had been standing before they mysteriously vanished. Morin moved in front of me holding some sort of device with a makeshift antennae.

“Yeah. This is it alright. The trail’s still warm so we should be able to follow it…” He placed the device on the ground and began pressing buttons that were on it. If this had been any other situation, I would have asked him if he was just randomly pushing things without knowing what he was doing.

“Where’s Risit?” Rhia asked, reminding me that she was more than a piece of flesh I was trying to keep out of harm’s way. I looked around, seeing that she had a point. Risit was nowhere to be seen.

“Don’t worry. He’ll be here.” Morin muttered, completely focused on the device on the ground.

As if he was summoned, Risit appeared behind Morin with only a small scratch on his cheek. “They’ll be here in a few seconds.”

“Almost there…” Morin stood up and looked at all of us. “I guess we have no choice but to take you two as well…this device was only meant to support the transport-”

“Transport?” Rhia and I asked at the same time.

“…Of three people. Even with the last minute adjustments I just made, this’ll be very uncomfortable.” Morin patted off some dirt that was on his shoulder and held up three fingers.

The shouts were getting louder. …Why was Morin holding up three fingers? Was it a sign?

Morin put one finger down. I don’t know why, but Rhia began to hold on to me tightly. What was Morin doing? Now wasn’t the time for counting!

I could hear footsteps get closer. Morin was now only holding one finger up. I think I got it. He was counting down.

I could see the group approaching. They were almost on us…

Morin now had his hand clenched into a fist and raised it high above his head. He shouted, “See you later!” Meanwhile, I cursed myself for not being ready. My ears popped and everything went into a swirl of colors before finally my vision turned white. Then there was nothing but silence.

Day 3 ~ Emotionless

“Get up.” Risit’s emotionless voice told me, although it was hard to hear with the loud ringing echoing in my ears. It took me several moments before I could even open my eyes. The light was bright and the surroundings were really odd. Large brown structures rose up from the ground all around and they all sprouted into off several smaller limbs. At the ends of each of these limbs, they were covered in several hundreds of green tear-shaped things. I swayed slightly and rose to my feet, the ground was soft and had a thick layer of millions of tiny green shafts pointing up at the sky.

“Where are we…?” I turned my head towards Risit and Morin(who had over his shoulder an unconscious Rhia).

“I’m pretty sure we’re near Shau territory. They’re supposedly hidden in any land that’s still natural.” Morin answered, not even turning to look my way.

Everything looked so…natural…it confused me. What was that supposed to mean? The word ‘nature’ includes animals and green things and anything that wasn’t turned into a city. I took another look at the surroundings, finally realizing where we were. Well, I wasn’t sure of the exact location but I knew we were in a forest. I had never expected to see one in my life. Generally the only naturally green things I saw were the grass in the courtyard and an occasional fruit or vegetable. It really felt uncomfortable being in such a place as this.

“Follow or we’ll leave you here.” Risit’s warning snapped me out of my train of thought and instinctively I followed him, although I was completely unsure of where he was even planning on taking us. Judging from Morin’s words, he wasn’t too sure where we were and…well, the more I thought about it…I realized that we had nowhere to go. If we found the Shau’s land, they would never accept us because we are supposed to be enemies. Running into anyone would mean running into trouble.

I kept behind the two, beginning to wonder if they had any plans. “Guys?”

No answer from either Morin or Risit. Were they ignoring me? “Any ideas of what we’ll do now that we’re all fugitives?”

Risit, to my surprise, was the one who answered. “We need to put as much distance from us and any school as possible.” In other words, there was no plan.

I sighed and stuffed my hands in my pockets, dragging my feet across the ground solemnly as I regretted ever having left my room yesterday. As much as I hated the school, it at least gave me a place to live and eat so I never really thought of how life would be if it wasn’t there to take care of me. A lack of trust between the others and me got me into this mess and Rhia was dragged in along for the ride as well. I looked at her, partially hoping she would stay unconscious a little while longer so I wouldn’t have to see her reaction to what happened.

The school was my home away from home…then again, not many people ever went home after they arrived at the school. I’m pretty sure it worked with the other schools around the globe. Instead of going to a regular high school, those with abnormal abilities are sent elsewhere and have little contact with the outside world until one graduates. On most occasions it’s better for one to be sent off because of a family’s low income…that way one’s parents don’t have to worry about supporting a child. I had relatively no knowledge about what an “economy” was but I heard that anything outside of a government or military position meant minimum wage and poor living conditions. Nobody really talked about their families and my father was part of the military so I had never experienced what “poor” was.

“Ngh…” I raised an eyebrow, seeing that the sound came from Rhia. The three of us stopped walking and as soon as she lifted her head to look at her surroundings, Morin placed her on her feet. “Where are we…?” She asked, putting a hand on her forehead. From the looks of her aura, she was completely disoriented and was sure to lose her balance at any moment. Risit went over to her and put his hand on her back to steady her.

“Not important where we are. We just need to keep moving.” Morin spoke, rolling his shoulders slowly causing them to crack loudly. The sound was unpleasant enough to make me shiver.

“B-but…” Risit glanced at Rhia who had no idea what was going on and I stepped in to get her moving before the two thought it would be better to ditch her. We had only taken a few steps when a thin wooden shaft whizzed just by Morin’s face and buried itself into a nearby tree.

The four of us…well, Rhia and I jumped in shock and spun in the direction of the attacker. Risit and Morin however kept their cool for the most part…Morin did seem a little pissed. I narrowed my eyes as I tried to spot who could have fired at us from the trees but the only thing within my sight were the branches and leaves. I stepped back towards the others, afraid of getting my head punctured by an arrowhead. I had never been in a real fight before and…wait a second… I turned my head towards the arrow which was still stuck in the tree. I blinked and stared at it, confused as to why anyone would use such a low-tech weapon. Sure an arrow could pierce through some light body armor but it wasn’t effective at all when compared to a gun. Why would anyone use an arrow…?

I noticed something else too, Risit seemed to be staring directly up seemingly into space. “Risit…? I think we’ll need a little help here.” I spoke, hoping he would be the one to act first before any of us would get hurt. He closed his eyes in response and lowered his head, taking in a long deep breath. I bit my lower lip, waiting for him to do something. Right when I thought that he would never move from his spot Risit vanished from sight, barely leaving a recognizable blur behind. The next thing I heard was a loud crack that reminded me of thunder. I turned to see a tree falling backwards and two figures jumping up into the air. One of them carried a large bow and aimed at the other in the air before releasing an arrow. I shielded my eyes from the Sun’s light, unable to continue watching from my position. Did Risit just get hit!?

Thud!

I lowered my hand to see who hit the floor, my jaw dropping slightly when I saw Risit standing over the unconscious body of a blue-haired male. My eyes lowered to the broken wooden shaft he was holding in his left hand then back up at his face. From the looks of it, Risit’s expression didn’t change from before the attack. It was as if the one on the ground before us was not even worthy of being called a distraction for him.

“It’s a Shau.” Risit finally spoke, dropping the broken arrow as he eyed the unconscious male before us. He crouched down beside the male and placed his hands on the Shau’s head, lifting it slightly off the ground.

“What’re you doi-” Before I could finish, the sound of bone snapping cut me off. It felt as if something just punched me in the stomach as I watched Risit break the Shau’s neck so mercilessly.

“Bury him.” Risit directed towards Morin as he stood up and wiped his hands, already beginning to walk away as if nothing happened. As Morin silently obeyed by causing the male to sink into the ground, I ran towards Risit.

“What the hell did you do that for!?” I demanded, hearing Rhia whimper as she followed the two of us.

“Morin would have been hesitant to bury someone alive.” Risit plainly answered in his usual monotone.

“Why did he need to!? That guy was out cold! You could have just left him there!” The fact that Risit could kill so easily disturbed me and not only that but he didn’t even feel any form of regret when he did so.

“He would have woken up eventually and told the other Shau about our intrusion. We need to get rid of any evidence that we’re even in here. That’s why Morin’s taking care of the body. You should be thankful I’m being so cautious.” Under normal circumstances, any other person would sound angry or defensive…but with Risit, I could tell that he couldn’t care whether or not I approved of his methods and whether or not I thanked him for trying to keep us alive when he wouldn’t miss us if we died. I kept silent as I was unwilling to argue with someone like him.

Morin caught up with us soon after I had stopped speaking and made no comment on the dark aura coming from both Rhia and I. The four of us walked in silence for what felt like hours, the unchanging scenery of the forest began to give me the idea that we were going in circles but every time I looked at the ground, I would see no footprints to indicate that we had already walked the same path before. I shoved my hands into my pockets only to have them pulled out again a minute later and stuff them back inside at another moment. Both Rhia’s and Morin’s auras were a dark shade of blue…they really weren’t in such a cheery mood and it only served to make me feel worse than I already was.

My eyes settled on Rhia for several moments, wondering what she thought of her hero now. Was she afraid of Risit now? Or was she understanding with his complete lack of morals? I really didn’t know what she felt towards him at the moment but it obviously wasn’t anything resembling pride. I felt kind of bad for the girl. All this time she had this fantasy of meeting someone with such an amazing record like Risit and in a matter of minutes he manages to show that he’s willing to kill anyone without a moment’s notice just to stay alive. Cold wasn’t even the word to describe it…if someone was cold, they would intentionally seek to say hurtful things but Risit had no sense of hatred or anger. It really made me wonder what kept him going if he had no emotions that would keep anyone going. When a person loses their family, they are driven by revenge to kill the one that took their loved ones away. When a person’s pride is hurt, they feel anger and wish to take it out on someone. When one’s friends are in danger, they fear losing them and protect their friends because they care about someone other than themselves. If someone is separated from the person they love, that person does everything in his or her power to reunite with that special other…but…Risit had none of that. I really did not understand what could give him the will to live if he had no fear, anger, hatred, or love within him.

Suddenly, Risit stopped walking which caused Rhia to bump into him and stumble backwards. “S-sorry!” She lowered her head in embarrassment but Risit paid no attention to her. Morin’s aura turned an even deeper hue of blue which made it look almost black. Both he and Risit were staring at something I couldn’t see. The path up ahead was much darker than the one we had been traveling on, made worse by the sunset. Still, I wondered why the would look so grim if it was only getting dark…was that path dangerous or something? No…the two had never been here before so they wouldn’t know the area so well. I squinted my eyes and stared directly at the darkness, spotting something in the distance. Whatever was up ahead was moving our way. The only thing I could tell was that whoever it was, wasn’t planning on fighting us…at least for now.

As the figure came closer, I took note in a few details. The one approaching was slender and had a very…feminine build, there was also a long black shadow attached to the figure which, at first glance, made me think it was a cape, the figure also had some thin object protruding from the shoulder which I could only assume was a weapon. The aura coming from the shadow gave it the appearance of being on fire. It was just so intense! The aura shifted from hot pink, to crimson, to gold, then back to crimson which only grew brighter as the woman, as I could now tell, came closer. When she was fully visible, the first thing that caught my eye was her hair. It was as if any other shade of red I had seen before would be put to shame. Her hair almost seemed to be glowing…or more appropriately, it seemed to look as if someone had forced an inferno to take a physical form and be placed on this girl’s head. Her hair dropped down to her hips which brought my eyes to the attention of her unusual outfit. It was unlike anything I had ever seen…and it seemed completely impractical since it looked as if her sleeveless…”shirt” (which didn’t even cover her stomach) was intricately woven from what looked like vines or something--I had no idea how else to describe it--and this girl wore a skirt that went to her knees that was made entirely of leaves. I looked further down, noticing that the redhead was walking about barefoot and wore some sort of ankle bracelets made out of…more greenery. This girl also had tanned skin…which made her slightly darker than the rest of us--which reminded me of a joke…which had nothing to do with the point.

The girl’s shining emerald colored eyes focused solely on a single soul within our group. Risit. The girl’s inhuman aura continued to change colors so quickly I had to actually force my powers to block her aura from my sight to avoid giving me a seizure.

“Risit…” The girl spoke first in a rather calm and soothing voice. Tears began to form and soon they streamed down her cheeks for no reason I could tell. I looked towards Risit who was unaffected by the girl’s appearance.

“Iriel.” Morin growled lowly, stepping forwards as if he would be the one answering on Risit’s behalf. “Who would have thought that you would be here?” Even without my powers, it was all to easy to feel the tension in the area.

The girl lowered her head and continued to cry, lacing her fingers together as she did so. “I’m so sorry Risit…So sorry…”

“Let’s get going.” Risit ordered, not acknowledging the girl’s presence. Before he could get moving, the girl ran at him and practically tackled him when she went in to embrace him.

“P-please forgive me…” She sobbed, burying her face into Risit’s chest as she continued to apologize over and over again. I was beginning to get the idea who this girl was but…what would she be doing here?

“Let go of me, Iriel.” When she heard those words, the girl lifted her head and pulled away slightly, staring up at Risit who would not even look back at her.

“Please don’t call me by my last name…I know what I’ve done…I’ve missed you so much…” The girl reached a hand up towards Risit’s cheek only to have it brushed aside quickly. Hurt, the girl stepped back and nodded slowly to herself. “It wasn’t my fault…I wanted to tell you…but they said you wouldn’t be safe if I didn’t go quietly.” She looked down and wiped her tears off her face. “I did it because I-”

“Love me?” Risit interrupted, shaking his head as he spoke. “I don’t care. Move aside Serenity.” So that was the girl’s name…Serenity Iriel…she was the one Risit cared about once. Serenity stepped to the side and as soon as she did, Risit began walking forward without a glance towards his former love.

“I’m sorry I broke your heart…Kael…” She soft whispered. Risit abruptly stopped dead in his tracks in response to her words.

“What did you call me?” For a moment, I thought I saw a faint colorless outline surround Risit at the mention of that name.

“You remember your true name…right? …At least…it’s what your name is in my native tongue…It sounds so much more peaceful spoken that way.” She paused and turned to face Risit. “I left to protect you…and my people needed me. There hasn’t been a day that’s gone by where I haven’t thought of you. I know what I did was horrible but-”

“What do you want from me?”

Serenity started to walk deeper into the forest, taking Risit’s hand and pulling him forward. “I don’t have any right to ask this of you but please…we need your help. Just hear them out…you can decide whether or not to join our cause and leave if you choose.” Risit said nothing in return but simply followed after Serenity.

I could tell that we were getting ourselves into a deeper mess than we had bargained for. Morin cursed under his breath and trailed behind Serenity and Risit leaving Rhia and I to reluctantly follow. We only walked for roughly two minutes but the forest came to a stop and opened up to a large clearing…well, there were quite a few large trees around but it was not nearly as dense as the rest of the forest. I stared in awe at the city before us, both surprised its design and how quickly we had arrived. The buildings weren’t in the way of the forest…rather it felt like they were a part of it instead. Every structure looked almost golden but they were not as lustrous and seemed to be made of a more…natural material.

“Our city Andoneiros only opens its borders to those with the power to call it out…such as my kind. The Shau.” Serenity stated quietly which only made me feel sick. We were definitely screwed if we decided to help them. She lead us to a large hut-like structure probably two hundred feet away from where we had just emerged which gave me very little time to admire the city. The door wasn’t metal. I think it looked rather odd being made out of wood…but that was just me.

Serenity knocked on the door which cracked open slightly. I heard someone say, “Ah, you” before fully opening the door. A rather short blue-haired male stepped out--did all the males of the Shau have blue hair?--and raised an eyebrow when he saw the rest of us. “Who are they?” He hissed, displeased with our presence.

“Just give us an audience with the council.” Serenity let go of Risit’s hand and looked closely at her own, as if she could read something from it.

“Fine.” The short man backed off and allowed us to pass, his eyes seemed to be fixed particularly on Risit.

Inside, the building was dimly lit and it nearly caused me to bump into everyone else at least twice as Serenity lead us down a narrow path that opened up into a circular room whose ceiling was covered in thorny vines. The only thing that kept the place from being pitch black were these floating white orbs that looked to be the size of my fist and hovered just inches above our heads. Several men, all with blue hair, and one girl, whose red hair actually rivaled that of Serenity’s, sat in large oaken chairs set at the far side of the room. One man in particular who was sitting beside the only girl amongst the group had a specially designed chair that reminded me of a throne.

“Who are these intruders?” The man sitting on the throne-looking chair demanded. His voice belonged to that of one who commanded great authority.

Serenity glanced at Risit and back towards the man, her bright green eyes hovered over Risit just second longer than necessary. “This is Risit. He’s the one who…” She trailed off, looking down at the ground afterwards.

The man’s eyes narrowed as he examined Risit silently. It felt like at any moment the man would simply bark out an order to have us all killed but nothing of the sort happened. After nearly a minute or so of silent, the man spoke. “I am Lenard Miser. The current leader of the Shau and all those that live in our lands.” He turned his head from side to side, looking at the others in the council. “My sister…” He waved his hand towards the girl sitting beside him. “Mara is second in command.” He lowered his head and closed his eyes, smiling for no reason in particular…at least for no reason I could tell. “I’ve heard quite a few stories about you Risit. You’re the last of your kind, are you not?”

“What of it?” Risit blandly questioned.

“It was just out of curiosity. After all…it’s because of you that she hasn’t married any suitor yet.” Lenard pointed at Serenity who continued to keep her head down. Now that I had a good look around, she was the only one dressed so…oddly. The other Shau wore dull green robes with the exception of Lenard who wore a purple one. “Are you curious as to why she-”

“Not one bit. Just tell me why your kind needs my help and why I should assist any of you.” Risit really didn’t seem to be in the mood to waste time…then again…did he have a mood at any time?

Lenard nodded and leaned back in his seat beginning to rub his chin thoughtfully with a hand. “Those schools are used to train your kind for use in an immensely powerful military. You know that I’m sure. You’ve been taught to believe that the Shau are just a group of terrorists who wish nothing more but to see the world’s society crash straight into the ground.” He paused. “…The Shau have been around for almost as long as your kind, Risit. We have always been peaceful…but since we are not fully human, we have been treated as outcasts even by the humans who have shown unique abilities such as your comrades beside you. Those schools were merely meant to separate humans with abilities from the rest of the population and teach the children how to use their powers for the benefit of everyone else…but one soon found that by using those children for military purposes…an army created from them would easily overpower any other world power.” Lenard took in a deep breath and stared hard at Risit. “There has always been one person in charge of these schools and each new leader has had an intense hatred for the Shau and anyone that opposes him. The only reason why Serenity even lasted so long in your school without being caught was simply because she was one of many.” There was another pause. “Risit, these schools and the man in charge of them has done a great deal of harm to so many…Before our people settled in Andoneiros, we would always be victims of violence, discrimination, crimes of extreme malice…we are being hunted to extinction! There are a few humans currently residing here who have tried and failed to fight against this threat so you should not think that by helping us, you will face any violence within our territory…If you assist us in the battles to come, you and your comrades will be welcomed as one of our own. You may leave if you wish without any resistance.” Battles to come? The Shau were planning an offensive? That was just suicide. Although…their story did convince me that it was a battle worth fighting. I truly felt sorry for them.

“What do you say, Risit?” Lenard showed him a rather charming smile and as Risit opened his mouth to speak, I knew that the four of us would be in agreement to stay and help the Shau with their cause.

Risit’s gray eyes scanned the room quickly before fixing on the man in front of him before he said a word. He then stuffed his hands in his pockets and narrowed his eyes.

“Why don’t you get to the part where you make me care?”

Day 3 ~ Part 2

“How dare you speak to us like that you insolent little child!” Lenard shouted in outrage, quickly rising from his elegant seat. My own eyes widened in shock from Risit’s words, he couldn’t possibly be serious, could he? It was only obvious he would have no emotional attachment to the situation but what could he possibly lose?

“Risit! Please don’t be like this…” Serenity softly spoke towards Risit, placing her hands on his shoulders as she looked him in the eye.

“I don’t see why I should help you people. Your cause isn’t mine. There’s nothing I have to fight for.” Risit slowly reached to grab Serenity’s wrists before lifting them off his shoulders and letting them go where they simply dropped to her sides. “I’ll be taking my leave now.” He turned his back towards Lenard. “If you three want to follow, you may.” He added lowly, directing it towards Morin, Rhia, and I.

“Don’t let him leave!” Lenard growled as several men rushed to block Risit’s path, each of them now pointing their spears at him.

I turned completely to watch how Risit would handle the situation, after all, it was him they wanted…not us. If he couldn’t handle the situation then the rest of us were all screwed. I watched Risit stand still for several seconds before hearing him take in deep breath.

“Guess I might as well kill everyone you send at me.” Risit’s arm snapped forward with blinding speed, breaking one of the spears, twirling it in his hand then thrusting his arm forward in an attempt to pierce one the now unarmed man’s neck.

“Stop!” Serenity must have seen it coming because she quickly latched herself onto Risit’s arm just before he killed the man. Her eyes burnt with a powerful light from what I could see, her aura clearly outshone everyone else’s. I wasn’t so sure why her people had such a strong light within them, I knew they couldn’t be human…but what else could they be?

Risit had paused, his arm perfectly still as the jagged end of a broken spear touched the soldier’s neck. His own eyes were fixed on the man as if he paid Serenity no attention when she spoke. He dropped the wooden shaft after a long moment pulled his arm away from her grasp. “What reason do I have to fight but for self-preservation?” He said aloud. I stared at Risit, unsure of who he was really talking to.

“I…” Serenity began, lowering her head towards the ground as she considered his situation. “I know you still remember what it was like before this happened…” She continued in a soft tone. “Do it for me…for our memories.”

“How preposterous.“ Lenard let out a low growl of disapproval, taking a step towards the two. Morin and I turned towards him, both of us aware that we would probably have had to fight our way out if anything went wrong. The air was so tense I couldn’t stand the anxiety of waiting for the next move to play out.

Then Risit spoke, causing everyone to return their attention towards him again. “Fine. I’ll fight for what you believe in. Whatever you think is right, whatever you want to protect, I’ll stand for it with my life.”

Serenity’s eyes widened when he said this. “Risit…”

What could have made him say something like that? He couldn’t have felt the emotional attachment to bring himself to fight for their cause but at the same time he couldn’t hold any sort of grudge against them without the ability to feel angry. I looked over towards Morin, hoping for some sort of explanation from him but when he returned with a blank stare I knew he had no answer.

“What’s he planning…?” I heard Rhia whisper towards me. I simply shrugged in response, figuring it was best to watch and wait.

“In that case, I want all of you to be escorted out of here by our guards. We’re rather tight on our living arrangements at the moment so you all will just have to stay where we would normally keep our more…diplomatic guests.” Lenard said, his tone of voice now much calmer than it was before. It was rather surprising to hear it change in such a short amount of time. He waved his hand, causing the guards to step out of Risit’s way.

“I don’t want a bunch of your men leading us around. They feel uneasy around me and would be all too eager to cause trouble for me.” Risit spoke lowly, leaving the room without another word even though he had no one to guide him to where we were supposed to go.

“Follow me…” Serenity quietly mumbled, her voice barely audible. She trailed several feet behind Risit leaving the rest of us to head after her. Her own aura had died down since she had stopped Risit from killing the soldier and could only be described as the deepest shade of blue one could imagine. It was starting to actually depress me.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Morin walk up towards Risit and place his hand on Risit’s shoulder. “Why is it that you want to get yourself and the rest of us involved in this? What’s going on in that head of yours?” He questioned, seemingly pulling back on Risit’s shoulder just enough to cause him to stop walking. Serenity stopped by the two as her aura flickered with curiosity.

“I’m not forcing anyone into this. Leave if you want. As for your other question…” Risit turned his gaze towards Serenity and blankly stared at her which caused her light to flicker with the faintest shade of pink. “I realize there’s nothing left for me. I’ve lost all my values, my only reason to fight is to survive, there’s nothing I’m attached to so what is there for me to gain if I care for nothing? I still have memories, I suppose I owe it to my former self to honor those fragments still lodged in my head. Risit would have thought that Serenity’s beliefs are something worth fighting for. So I’ll blindly follow whatever path she sets for me. I have nothing to get out of it, no sense of satisfaction to show for my accomplishments, so I can’t clearly explain why I would do this.”

“Thank you…Risit…” Serenity whispered as she lowered her head.

I was still confused, but somewhere in the back of my head I knew that Risit wasn’t as heartless as I thought he was. Just as long as he had memories to give him a reason to keep going. It didn’t take more than a few seconds for Serenity to regain her composure and lead the way, letting us-or at least, me-take in the sights of Andoneiros. The place just looked so peaceful. Several golden columns of light broke through the treetops and lit the ground for us and wherever there wasn’t sunlight there was a sort of lantern that hung from the wooden houses. The lanterns didn’t emit a constant unwavering glow like that of electrical fixtures but the soft orange light that came from it resembled that of a candle even though I couldn’t see any flame from within the glass that covered it.

“This place is so…pretty. It’s like as if nature blended it with their lifestyle…” I heard Rhia say from beside me. It was true though. We came from a place where the only greenery we saw was either artificial or for some sort of “recreational” purpose and was well kept by those who owned the land. This place was different, it was like as if nobody had moved nature out of the way but instead had coexisted with it. Most of the structures we walked by were either placed close between the spaces of the trees or were built into the trunks themselves. I was so busy admiring the intricate architecture that I nearly ran into Morin when he had stopped moving. I looked forward, hoping to see the place in which we would be staying at but saw nothing. …Except a few protrusions that stuck out of the huge tree in front of us that spiraled up towards the top. They almost resembled a spiraling staircase.

Then I looked up. It was a staircase. Around fifty feet above us was what I could only make out to be a platform of some sort. Since I could only see the bottom of it I could only assume that it was the living quarters in which we would be staying at. “Whoa…” Was the only thing that came from my mouth.

My amazement was short lived however. It didn’t take too long for me to grow weary of climbing the steps as they were so steep that it seemed like the staircase was designed to give those who ascended some kind of workout. What kind of diplomats could these people possibly get? And who would visit the Shau anyways? While these questions annoyed me, I was comforted by the fact that I had no more steps to climb. Rhia seemed to be out of breath and was hunched over while Morin, Risit, and Serenity didn’t seem to be the least bit fatigued.

“My legs are going to be sore in the morning.” I muttered towards Rhia who simply nodded in response. I looked forward to see what kind of place we would be staying at and found myself staring at the trunk of the tree we had been climbing. “Are you serious?” I complained.

Serenity placed her hand on the bark of the tree and whispered something in such a quiet voice I couldn’t catch what she said. The bark began to peel back from where she had placed her hand and soon made a hole the size of a doorway large enough for even Morin to fit into. “Make yourselves comfortable…” She directed towards us, turning to head back down the staircase. Risit followed after her silently paying us no attention whatsoever. Rhia and I watched as the two left, quickly vanishing out of sight before we could say a word.

“Just let him be. To be honest, I’m not in the mood to argue or to get out of this place. There’s some comfy looking beds inside and I’m getting tired.” Morin spoke as he walked inside.

I just sighed and nodded, letting Rhia walk in after him before entering the room myself. To my left there was an opening in the wall that would let any of us to look down on the little town below but I wasn’t curious enough to look out of it. On my right there was a row of five beds that each had sheets so green I could have sworn that they were made leaves. The beds looked inviting… The wooden posts at each corner of every bed had the most comforting scent. I had never been around nature enough to recognize it but I could have compared it to that of the humid air one can smell when it rains. Morin hadn’t bothered to pull the covers down, he had practically fallen on the bed and seemingly went immediately to sleep. As for Rhia, I think she was looking through the “window” and I didn’t really care what Risit was doing at the moment. I laid down on the bed farthest from Morin, feeling that he might snore just like my former roommate Josh, and I pulled the covers over myself. The bed was a bit more firm than that of my old one at the school but the sheets were so much softer. I closed my eyes and all too soon I drifted off.

Day 4 ~ The Brink of War

“What the hell is going on?” I asked myself as I bolted down the stairs along the side the tree in which we had slept in.

What I had woken up to was the sounds of metal upon metal and a female’s voice crying out painfully. It was so violent there was no doubt that everyone else in Andoneiros would have heard the commotion. A crowd of the Shau was gathering, obscuring the view of what was going on. Morin stopped beside me having followed after me when I took off. He was taller than I was and could easily see over the others in front of me.

“What’s going on?” I asked, turning towards Morin who’s aura had flickered through a mixture of colors giving me the impression he was entirely confused.

“Serenity and Risit are duking it out…What’s happening…?” Morin wasted no time in using his own size to push through the dense crowd while I trailed close behind. As we got closer we could now make out what Serenity was saying. Before I even caught sight of her I could see two heavily darkened shades of light coming from what I knew to be her. One was blue for some sort of sorrow while the other was an intense red…for anger.

“Why don’t you care!? Don’t you have anything left of what you were? Tell me you remembered your promise!” I heard Serenity scream as I finally caught sight of what was happening. She was aggressively attacking at Risit with a curved sword and with considerable skill I might add. Risit on the other hand was unarmed, merely stepping out of the way to dodge each and every strike Serenity aimed at him. Suddenly his left arm shot out, catching Serenity’s arm in mid-swing.

“Stop pestering me about the past. You can‘t aggravate me to make me feel something.” I heard Risit say as Serenity dropped the blade she held as soon as he spoke, tears easily visible in her eyes. Was that what this was all about? Trying to get Risit to feel something? Even if it was, it didn’t seem possible.

I couldn’t catch what Serenity said but she yanked her arm from Risit’s grip and took off running. Morin pushed his way through the crowd and looked at Risit. “You really didn’t need to be so hard on-”

“Let’s get moving. I’m sure the Shau leader, Lenard, has something for us to do.” Risit said, turning his attention towards the crowd with his cold gray eyes. “Get lost.” As the crowd began to disperse a blue haired man, the one known as Lenard, came forth. He didn’t look angry but the aura I could see on him said otherwise.

“What’s with all this?” Lenard demanded.

“It’s over now. Do you have any sort of offensive prepared against the United Lands?” Risit responded. Well I guess he was serious about it. He was going to drag us in on the Shau’s battle for some reason I couldn’t have figured out. At least becoming the world’s enemy didn’t seem too bad as long as we had a place to call home…right? Too bad we left those behind…

“Now that we have the manpower to launch an attack-” Lenard was cut off by Morin.

“You mean now that you have Risit on your side.”

Lenard growled but said nothing to Morin. “As I said, now that we have the means to finally attack we will prepare the Spell of Relinquishment. Since I doubt either of you know what this is I shall explain.” Lenard paused as he lifted a hand to rub his chin thoughtfully. “We do not have the means to take on the humans in direct combat. Our weapons are archaic and our magic is not powerful enough to compensate. The Spell of Relinquishment will actually render all modernized weapons entirely useless thus giving our kind the advantage.”

Morin quickly spoke as soon as Lenard finished the sentence. “But if you’ve had that kind of power why haven’t you guys used it yet?”

“You didn’t let me finish.” Lenard said, his eyes narrowing at Morin. “Byron…the man responsible for all this corruption has nine soldiers under his direct command. Their power is completely unnatural even when compared to us.” Those nine soldiers must have been the Elites I had seen back at school. The one that I got a good look at did creep me out. “Even with the spell in effect it would be too difficult fighting them with our own abilities.”

“And that’s where I come in.” Risit muttered.

“Yes. We can strike the schools surrounding Byron’s personal fortress but we cannot win the battle if those nine participate in battle. If we can take Byron out quickly, everything else under his control will crumble.” Lenard finished.

Quick recap? Risit draws the attention of those nine Elites, the Shau subdue the students of the closest schools, then once that’s all over we take down Byron himself and the rest of the world can return to a life that’s free from the man’s influence. Seemed a bit too simplistic to be called a real plan but somehow it just made sense. If Byron wasn’t around we could all go back to our families, the schools Byron had created would disband, and Byron’s soldiers around the world would release their hold on all the nations.

Risit turned towards Morin who nodded at him. “I’m tagging along. I don’t think you can handle nine Elites by yourself. Even if you are…you!”

“Then it only helps my odds. Damon. Rhia. You two don’t need to come. You both don’t have enough experience to be of much help.” Risit directed at us. Damn, that was harsh. Though I didn’t really have a comeback for that.

“We’re coming! Two against nine is a terrible match up!” Rhia shouted angrily, swinging her fists which nearly ended up hitting me. “Damon’s coming too! Isn’t that right?” She turned towards me, her eyes burning with conviction. There really wasn’t anything I could do to refuse. I must have been losing it or Rhia’s attitude was rubbing off on me because before I knew it…

“Hell yeah! I’m going along with this!” I shouted a little too enthusiastically.

“Fine. Just don’t get in my way.” Risit said, motioning for us to follow him with his hand. “Hurry up and get that spell ready. We’ll be at Byron’s doorstep in less than an hour.” He directed towards Lenard as he took off towards the tree we had spent the night in.

Wait…what did he say? How were we going to manage that? I turned towards Morin hoping for an answer but seeing the grin on his face only confirmed my worst fears. We were going to be forced to use some sort of invention of his to get there. I could only pray that it wasn’t another teleporting device.

“It’ll only take me half an hour or so to set it up. I’m sure it finished charging itself by now.” Morin said as he smacked his hands together, rubbing them against each other as he passed Risit and took the lead, quickly heading up the staircase jutting out of the tree’s trunk. “The teleporter survived our last transport. Aren’t you guys excited!?”

Rhia and I groaned together at his words. Perfect…just perfect. I always wanted to wind up in front of death’s doorstep in extreme pain and discomfort. It must be my birthday because things just couldn’t get any better.

Day 4 ~ Part 2

No fanfare, no fireworks, no ominous music…we were just there. With the tweaks Morin had made to his teleporter, it had gotten us to our destination without knocking anyone out. “Byron’s place…” I managed to say, looking around the grassy area. It was neatly trimmed which begged the question, who would cut the grass around here?

I looked around, looking at the dark gray walls that surrounded us. They didn’t shine so it was hard to tell if it was metal or something else. I took a step forward before taking a glance over at Risit who was silent. The area was dark and if it wasn’t for the fact that there was no ceiling we wouldn’t have been able to see more than two feet in front of us. “As much as I’d like to admire the foreboding atmosphere…what’re we going to-”

“Quiet.” Risit spoke, holding his hand out towards me. Just then one of the walls began to move, pushing forward a few inches before sliding to the side to reveal a dark passageway that lead inside Byron’s fortress. There was silence for several moments. Then someone stepped out, several someones.

“Now how did you all wind up at our little abode? No alarms ever sounded. You kids didn’t even bother to knock on our front door! Didn’t anyone ever teach you all manners?” The one who spoke was a blond-haired male wearing a leather trench coat. Beside him stood three others, a girl with black hair and a petite figure, a red-haired boy, and a woman dressed in black with purple hair trailing down her waist. Surprisingly, all of their auras were the same. I could tell they had the intent to kill us. They had to have been the elites to have such focus.

“Enough talk. I came here to slaughter all of you. You‘re making things easy by not bringing everyone.” Risit coldly spoke as he clenched his hands into fists.

“Eight and Nine, you two can take the other three. They look a little green for this. Seven and I will teach this one some manners.” The red-haired male, Nine, and black-haired girl, Eight, nodded silently and began to walk forward towards us. I froze in place, was I really doing this? I was terrible at fighting! My powers were useless for it and here I was, about to bite the dust because I had to follow everyone else.

Risit on the other hand didn’t seem phased. He approached the one I assumed would be Six(he was giving the orders anyways) and Seven. Morin was the first to act. The first thing he did was punch the ground causing several spikes to erupt out of the ground and rush to impale Eight and Nine. Eight did a far-too-graceful backflip out of the way while Nine on the other hand…

Nine made the rock spike split in half with the swipe of his hand, which was now on fire. The air grew cold as I saw Eight thrust her palms towards us, releasing a cold gust of wind which would have frozen us solid if Morin hadn’t first put a rock wall in between us. “Come on!” Morin shouted at us. “You two have been training at school haven’t you!? Put it to good use!” It hadn’t occurred to me yet but I had never once found out what Rhia’s power was. I never thought to ask.

Morin rushed towards Eight leaving Rhia and I to take care of Nine. With his number, he must’ve been the weakest. Still, he was an elite and not a student like Rhia and I were. “You kids ready to die?” Nine grinned, baring his teeth at us as his hands suddenly burst into flames.

“Now or never.” I muttered under my breath, beginning to sprint at Nine. My power had to do something else. I just had to push myself until something happened. I ducked under Nine’s burning fist and tried to ram my shoulder into his side but missed by a longshot. He stepped to the side and would have probably cut me in two if Rhia hadn’t stopped him. ‘Damn.’ My jaw nearly dropped when I saw what she could do. Her aura was burning furiously…and so were her hands. Her powers…were linked to her emotions? It was such a far out idea but I knew that’s what it was. I just knew it was right. She had caught Nine’s hand and was attempting to push him back to no avail. She was still weaker than him. I took advantage and punched Nine in the side with all my strength, causing him to lose his footing and Rhia to deliver a painful blow to his face with her own fist.

“What the…” Nine staggered back and growled at the two of us. Rhia attempted to strike at him again but this time he caught her by the wrist. She cried out in pain as her aura changed, dulling immediately before flaring up into a color I knew meant fear. He was starting to burn her. I tried tackling Nine but he kicked me in the gut, leaving me to fall on my knees. I coughed and gritted my teeth. ‘What the hell…’ I looked up, catching Rhia’s gaze as she held her arm in pain. I could see it--no I could feel her pain. ’We’re not going to be pushed around like this damn it! I sprung back to my feet, taking hold of Nine’s arm and yanking it away from Rhia who fell to the ground after. Nine went in to hit me but when his fist made contact…

I fell back and hit the ground with a thud. Instantly my hand went to my cheek expecting a serious burn but I felt nothing. My eyes shot up to Nine who was gaping at his hands. His brow furrowed as he focused to call on his powers but nothing happened. I took my chance and brought Nine to the ground, beginning to throw as many punches as I could right into his face. It didn’t take long before he kicked me off of him though.

“Ugh…” I looked over at Rhia who was still clutching her hand. “You okay..?” She looked up at me, saying nothing. I started to rise to my feet when Nine kicked me once more and grabbed my collar before I could fall over.

“What did you do to me!?” He shouted at me, raising his fist to strike me. “Well!?” He let go of my collar and rammed his fist right into my jaw, nearly breaking it. I spat out blood onto the grass and tried pushing myself back up. I thought the task was surprisingly easy until I realized it was only Nine pulling me back up so that he could hit me again.

“I don’t know what I did.” I managed to say though I knew the answer. I sealed Nine’s power somehow. If I hadn’t been acting like a punching bag I would’ve thought that it was pretty cool. That kind of ability wasn’t useless! Then there came another fist flying at my face.

Thud. I rolled over onto my back and cursed under my breath. Despite having gotten rid of Nine’s powers, he was still a better fighter. Nine began to reach for me again, yanking me upwards by my shoulder. I really couldn’t keep taking punches like this. I tried ramming my fist into his gut but he barely budged. Just as Nine was about to hit me again there was a loud smack. Nine immediately released his grip on me and fell to the side onto the ground. Behind him was Risit who had already made short work of his own opponent. Likewise, Morin had already downed the one fighting him.

“I would have preferred hearing about your power before this.” Risit said.

“So would I. I’ve never been in that kind of situation before so it just kinda…happened.” I responded, looking past Risit and Morin to look at Six, Seven, and Eight. “Are they dead?”

“Yeah.” Risit muttered as he knelt down towards Nine. After a brief moment of examining him he rose back to his feet and shook his head. “So is he. I couldn’t have hit him that hard.”

“What’s going on here? Even the lowest ranking of the bunch should’ve put up more of a fight.” Morin crossed his arms. Risit shrugged in response and stared up at the sky as he thought of some logical explanation. If the fights had been too easy then we could have very well ended up in a trap…but why would our enemy sacrifice four out of their nine best soldiers to set this up?

“I don‘t think they came out here looking to make it out alive. They were hardly in any condition to fight.” Risit answered as he lowered his gaze back to us.

“You‘re quite an intelligent person, aren‘t you Kael?” A deep voice echoed through the courtyard as the sounds of footsteps suddenly came from the dark passageway. “You disappoint me though. I was expecting to see you on my side within a few years. Suddenly appearing like you did made me accelerate my plan so much more than I intended.” The footsteps grew louder as the one speaking came closer. Even so, I couldn’t see anything. “I was really hoping to keep you alive too. Even if you are damaged. Such a pity, I‘ll have to kill the last two of your species.”

’Last two? I thought Risit was the only one left.’ I looked towards Risit for some kind of answer but his eyes were fixed on the passageway. The mention of his other name, the one Serenity had even used before, made him tense. I would just have to ask him about it later…if we made it out alive. I didn’t need to ask who was speaking. I was sure we all knew who was coming. The outline of a large dark figure came into view.

It was Byron coming towards us. The first details of him that I saw escaped me for there was something far more gruesome about the picture. His hands lagged behind him as he walked, dragging behind the bloodied corpses of his top five Elite soldiers.

 

8D Yeah it is. Glad you liked it.

Now if only my RPs were more like that. XD

Better? I'm glad you think so. Thank you. I'm still not much of a writer. D:

FFVIII? Never played it. ^^; Or Witch Hunter. Thanks a lot.

UPDATED. The days are going to be longer than I thought...at least the first one. @-@

EDIT: XD Thanks for pointing that out Aura.

 

Glad you liked it! 8DDDD

8D8 Thanks for being detailed. I'll fix stuff later but for now...UPDATED!

I'm glad you liked how I introduced Rhia. XDD

 

8D Done.

I mentioned something about a jackal's skull...in case you don't know what it looks like, here: http://www.valleyanatomical.com/catalog/images/CA-50002-Black-Backed-Jacka.jpg

<< Basically like that.

I finally got some time to type stuff out and this is probably the longest chapter so far. I'm going to try and keep the chapters at least 6 or so pages long from now on. ><

UPDATED!

 

Felled is the correct way to put it. It is a word and I know how to use it. 8D "Felt" is when someone touches something or when it's related to an emotion. "I felt sad." ...Or, "I felt cold."

Risit is a really dark character. You'll finally get to see it. I want him to be disliked by everyone(mostly everyone). D8<

Felled just isn't used much. B|

Thanks a lot for your comment. Really. ^^

UPDATED!

 

Thanks. Play by play? Hm...I'll wonder how to fix that.

It goes into present tense for a reason. I change tenses for story purposes even though it's technically wrong to do so. XD

Risit has a massive "dark side" but in this chapter...well, he'll be showing something different.

It's been FOREVER since I've updated. I haven't felt like writing to be honest. Life's been hectic and I've had to look over my story to remember what's going on. I haven't forgotten about any of my stories. It'll just take me awhile to update them. Which means, KNIGHT's Code, Bleach(my fanfic), and the sequel to Angels Don't Like Heroes will be...updated(or made in my sequel's case) slowly.

UP-FREAKING-DATED!