The land of the Renegades: A new generation

Chapter 10

  Early the next morning, I got a big surprise: I heard Caleb's voice in the hallway, it sounded like he was talking to Karina.

  Awakened from my sleep suddenly, I thought I was still dreaming and that it couldn't be true. But I immediately realized I wasn't dreaming and jumped out of bed instantly.

  I didn't even change my clothes or do anything else, I ran straight down the hall where I saw him standing, in great shape, as if nothing had happened.

  I jumped straight into his arms, and in that great ecstasy I didn't even care if there was anyone next to us or not.

  Thankfully there was no one. And I say "thankfully" because I've experienced some painful rejection.

  Holding his neck tightly, I whispered, "I'm glad you're okay!"

  And then he took me off his arms and said, "I'm fine, now let's get to work. We have no time to waste!".

  He didn't even look at me for a second during this whole time. He left, leaving me deeply disappointed, but still happy that he recovered.

  I went back to my room, showered, changed and went down to the gym.

  By the time I got there I passed Caleb's office and heard Caty's voice in there. I was just tired of keeping up with him, especially since he had hurt me so badly moments ago, so I didn't even stop to listen.

  Unfortunately, it was starting to be very difficult for me to concentrate. Although he had rejected me, my love for him was still high to the sky.

  I had already told him how I felt, and he made it clear that he didn't feel the same way; what else could I do anymore? I was trying to get his attention, I still had a glimmer of hope that he felt the same, or that he would notice me eventually and start having feelings for me.

  Everything I did was in vain, he was very cold, distant, uncaring, he didn't even look at me, he avoided looking at me.

  He was much colder than at the beginning, now he doesn't even notice my presence. That is until one evening.

  I had already felt for some time that my love for him was starting to fade little by little. I didn't care so much if he was looking at me or not, if he was in the same room with me or not, I just didn't look for his presence anymore and I didn't feel so bad about his absence anymore.

  For two months I tried my best to look at him as the leader of this community and nothing more. I thought I had succeeded, but the feelings hadn't gone away, they were just numbed by his indifference. He had no idea how bad his behavior was hurting me!

  Meanwhile I had started meditating a lot. In this way I detached myself from all the problems and all the pain and focused on the priority things. I had begun to feel new energies, discover new powers, and learn how to amplify the powers I already had.

  I had become a master of manipulating the demons of Earth, or at least the ones that didn't have the Council mark tattooed on them.

  I was using the divine power of angels for not very good purposes.

  I was forcing people to do unimaginable things, all while I was watching through the eyes of demons.

   In short time, I had become the worst version of myself. However, there was one good thing about this whole situation: I had become the strongest fighter.

  I begun to neglect Caty as well. Or, to put it another way, I had begun to avoid her more and more.

  After the Council invaded us, she begun to spend more and more time in Caleb's office. It hurt a lot at first, but this also helped me deny my feelings for him, and even though they had started to fade, I still felt a trace of jealousy inside me.

  Another four months had passed, it was the beginning of winter. They say that December is a magical month, but I no longer believed in miracles.

  It was evening, and I was sitting and looking through the window to the little snowflakes, with a cup of mulled wine in my hand. It was so beautiful! That scenery was very soothing to me, that is until Caty made her appearance and I began to stir.

  She sat down directly on the bed and I could feel her eyes on me, waiting for me to notice her presence, but I didn't turn to her. Seeing that I did not move, he asked me:

  -Hey, are you okay?

  -Better than ever! I replied with a forced smile, trying to be polite and end the conversation as quickly as possible.

  -I'm glad to hear that. I noticed that you have become the best fighter, congratulations!

  -Thank you! Now I'd like to sleep, if you don't mind, I told her, laying down on the bed.

  -I'm sorry, but I can't let you sleep right now. Something is happening to you and I don't know what. Every time you see me you ignore me, avoid me. You packed your things from our room and moved here by yourself. May I know why you are behaving like this? Did I do something wrong?

  -I don't wanna talk about this...

  -You have to! We are best friends and I thought our friendship was stronger than anything in this world. Whatever's on your mind, you have to tell me and we'll sort this whole situation out.

  At that point I begun to think that maybe there was nothing going on between her and Caleb, that maybe my feelings for him at that time had clouded my judgment.

  After all, I didn't want to lose my best friend either, I've been feeling very lonely lately.

  But I was still wondering if it would be a good idea to tell her about the fact that I had feelings for the Brotherhood leader and that I felt betrayed by her.

  I hesitated for a few moments, then I thought I had nothing more to lose and decided to tell her:

  -I could tell you, but you would laugh at me.

  -Hey, when have I ever laughed at you? she asked me, visibly irritated.

  - Now it's different... we never discussed this before. I... I experienced my first love. And it was a failure.

  -Who is the boy? she asked me, exaggerating her surprised look, trying to make it seem like she didn't know who he was.

  - That's the funny part. I fell madly in love with Caleb. I don't know what was in my head to think he would ever look at me in this life, but I just couldn't control my feelings, I didn't know how. I told him how I felt and he rejected me. I felt so betrayed and humiliated... but it helped me get over it, put my feelings for him away. It also helped that I always saw YOU in his office...

  - Wait, do you think there is something between us? Is that why you kept avoiding me? Let me tell you the real reason why I spend a lot of time with him...

  - No, you don't have to explain anything to me! I interrupted her. Now that I've said it out loud I realize it's a lot of nonsense. I think jealousy has taken over my mind.

  - However, we also need to talk about this because it is also about you. We have a mission and you need to be prepared in advance for it. After I told Caleb about the spell cast by you and Karina he was amazed, remembering that there was a legend about it that no one believed to be true. We too have our legends and myths that we didn't think were true, but since you appeared, it's like you've opened our eyes. Along with you, we too have learned that there are no legends that are not true.

  Finally Caleb and I started researching, searching through all the ancient books for a possible way to break the protective barrier and unfortunately we found it. But luckily, we're pretty sure the Council doesn't know about it yet. It won't be long before they find out, though, and we need to act fast. We've just finalized the final details of the plan, so we'll get down to business tomorrow. We will need you and Karina for this plan.