▂▃▅▆▇█ I █ L █ L █ I █ A █ N █ T █▇▆▅▃▂

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Tᴇɴ﹕Ｎｉｘ， Ｔｈｅ Ｄｒａｍａ Ｑｕｅｅｎ．

"How does he hide his Illiant eye?" My voice question's him.

Charbel smiles and stands, "He can hide it with his magic, he's more talented than others." The chair flies back under the desk. "Now what about that tank top?"

He walks towards my closet and presses the button. The door splits and he walks forward, lifting his right leg slightly to step over the still lowering bottom half. He walks in and holds down the button that controls the rack. I see him rummage through it as it spins before grabbing something and turn back. On a hanger is a white scoop neck tank top.

He walks towards me and hands the tank top. "Please change into this."

I grab the tank top, "Why?"

He walks towards the door, "I want to see your chest where Araceli's hologram touched you."

"But why?" I arch an eyebrow.

He presses the button next to the door. "I want to see if there is a mark there now. Especially after you said your veins turned black." He walks out. The door snaps shut.

I sigh and sit the tank top beside me on the bed. I swing my legs around and slide off the queen bed. My feet connect with the cold hardwood floors. I look down and notice for the first time that the wood is black. The grains in the wood are almost invisible. I sigh and then slip off my shirt, I toss it onto the bed then slip on the tank top.

My feet carry me over to a nearby full length mirror and look at my reflection. My layered black hair winds down my chest. The ends are dead and the rest of the mass looks tangled, like a birds nest. My face looks tired, even if I had been sleeping for a week. I focus my eyes onto my face. My pale face and eyes go hand in hand. Vermilion red and watery blue eyes mismatching. My pale skin clashing against the birds nest atop my head. My button nose is small and my pink lips are small as well. My face is rounded, no sharo edges. It makes me look young, however I am not young, I am an adult. No child or an in between age. My gaze travels lower and my eyes widen slightly. On the left side if my chest, above my heart, there is a black mark. The mark looks like a diamond, but instead of sharp edges there are none. The 'corners' are loops, a diamond with loops. In the middle there is a normal diamond, inside of that there are numbers. The numbers read off as 001:07:35:09:36:05. I furrow my eyes brows and watch as the five at the end if the code turns into a four. I yelp in alarm and watch as the four flips into a three.

The door opens and Charbel enters. He looks at me and walks over. I turn and stare at him in horror. His eyes wonder to my chest and his face drains. His face looks translucent. He looks up and locks eyes with me. He shocked and myself freaked out.

Charbel grabs my hand. "Lilliana, this is bad."

"Why is the thing counting down?!" I hear my voice raise.

Charbel's eyes waver, he looks at my chest again. "It's a timer... Araceli... Araceli has marked you for death. Unless you can complete her mission for you."

"I'm going to die unless I complete a "mission" from an insane holographic person who died over a thousand years ago!" I scream at him. I'm know I'm not angry at him, but Araceli.

"Lilliana, please, I need you to calm down." He places his hand on my shoulders. "Please just let me explain."

I clench my fists. "Fine. Try to tell me what I already know. That I'm going to die!"

He sighs, agitatedly, but continues anyway. "Lilliana. You still have a year. A year alright? A year, seven months, thirty five hours, nine days, thirty five minutes and 15 seconds."

I sneer, "I'm still going to die! I'm marked for death!"

He sighs, "Not if you can do what Araceli wants, if you can it goes away."

"So how in the hell do I do that?" I growl out.

"That is another story.." He rubs his face, he's frustrated. "Please. Just let me explain."

I grumble, "Fine! Be my guest, explain my mission of death and doom!"

Charbel lets out a sigh, giving up on calming me. "Araceli hated the government, wanted to destroy it. My guess is has something to do with the government. Destroying it, disbanding it, weeding it out, who knows. Now, concerning the timer, it's an Original timer. We used to use them as training devices, or the government used them. Until Illiants and the government fell out, after them we stopped using them. Only the Originals knew how to use them or give them. After the fall out a few originals had embedded them within their trainees. Their clocks self destructed, and killed them. The government sabotaged the clocks. I cannot rid you of your clock, only Araceli can. Her hologram cannot tell you your mission, you have to figure that out yourself."

My eyes widen, "So not only can she kill me, but so can my number one enemy, the government!"

"Lilliana I can assure you I will do everything and anything in my power to protect you." Charbel's voice is steady and serious.

I can't help but believe him.