Tears of Blood (wlw)

declaration of war

DEVYN POV

The mid-year ranking were up, and as much as I didn't want to see them, I knew I had to. It's the first time ever I'm hesitating at looking at the rankings.

"Wanna go now or later?" Sierra asks.

"Why don't you go see it? I already know I'm at the top, so there's no point in me going."

"You and your overconfidence."

"You love me." She scrunches her face and leaves. I lay down, staring at the ceiling. In a few more months I'll be out of Arden, and probably doing something crazier than being the top student. This whole Rune situation has got me on edge, I don't get how they could be back. Were we in danger? And why would the Rahl's start attacking us again? The Ackerman and Rahl rivalry went back several hundred years. After the united war against the Runes, the Rahl's betrayed the Ackermans, and turned on them. After losing over three hundred men, the Ackermans backed down, while the Rahl's started building an empire. A few years after that, the Ackermans regained their strength and overthrew the Rahl's casting them aside. That's when the continent was divided into two, the Ackerman's occupying the left, with the country of Orien, and the Rahl's occupying the right, with Sidus. My head ached from thinking about all the history behind Orien.

Why was peace so hard? Then again, when have I ever known peace? Ever since I was a child, I was taught to hate every inch of my being. To hate my own reflection. Every morning I'd wake up hoping it would be the day I'd be accepted. Maybe that's just not meant to be. Maybe we're all just meant to suffer, and this world was just hell. A place for atonement for our past sins. This world was just a breeding ground for suffering and pain. I'm not saying that there isn't happiness, but it's just not the constant. People say life is good and pain comes once in a while, but what it's the other way around? What if life is all about suffering and happiness comes around sometimes, only to leave again? Even thinking about happy moments, is a way of suffering because you think about how you're not happy in the moment, and that's why you're recalling past memories.

Sometimes I'd want nothing more than to go to sleep and get lost in my dreams. Get so lost that I can't find my way back in time to wake up. But the thought hides in the back of my mind when I see how Riley waits for me, how Sierra hugs me, how my friends might help me to fight all of the darkness there is. Then there is another thought that haunts me. What if I'm the darkness that I seek out to destroy? I'm the sole person who always ruins things for myself.

As I break out of my morbid thoughts, Sierra races back into the room.

"Devyn-" The look on her face concerns me.

"What is it?" I get up to hold her hands.

"It's Andrea. Sh- she..."

"She what?"

"She's on top. She's on top." I step back in dismay. This can't be happening right now. The one thing I was good at, the thing that could prove my worth to my father, the thing that I've worked for by myself, is being taken away by her. I can't think with all the rage pulsing through my veins.

"Fuck." I mutter.

"It's okay, you still have a few more months. You can still beat her."

"It's not okay!" My voice rises. I start to pace around the room. Every cell in my body seemed like they would explode any second now. What if father heard about this? Ever since that girl stepped into my school, she's been nothing but trouble. I feel weird around her, she gives me the most passive-aggressive stares, and I never know what she's thinking. Whenever I feel like I'm on good terms with her, she throws it all way, emphasizing that we're not friends. I literally saved her life, for god's sake! If she wants competition, that she'll get.

"Uh.. Devyn? Don't tell me you're planning on killing her? I kinda don't do well around blood so..."

"No. I won't. I'm just going to beat her. It'll be me on top. You can change my name if I don't." I declare as I walkout of the room leaving Sierra in shock.

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