Immortali

Chapter 40: The Rise and Rage of Raina Mads

Raina stared at the wall.

Arriana had brought her to her house, saying that Raina could stay in the other spare room. She'd only caught a brief glance of Isa, who'd been sitting on the couch with tear stained cheeks and red, swollen eyes. When she'd seen Raina, Raina noticed that she'd gotten up to embrace her, but Arriana had held up a hand to stop her.

Raina wasn't sure how Arriana knew she didn't want to be touched. She didn't really care, either.

Now, she stewed over her emotions, or lack thereof, in the spare room. The door had been shut, and with a few simple runes that Raina hadn't even realised she'd known, the door was now unopenable by anyone but her. She'd then curled up in the far corner, next to the dresser, her head resting on her knees.

A numbness had filled her. It was as though she was now sleeping or dreaming, as though she'd completely lost touch with reality. Nothing seemed real anymore.

She kept expecting to go home and see her Mum and Dad in the kitchen, and hear Taylor and James arguing about something or other in the lounge room. She could see it in her mind, hear it, feel it, smell it with such clarity, that it had to be real, right? But, then, what were the scenes of death and destruction that she'd just witnessed? A hallucination? A nightmare?

She shook her head, a few tears slipping out of her eyes. No.

No.

What she'd seen was real. It was the visions of happiness in her mind that were the lie. Her family was dead. She had to accept it, because that was the truth.

But how can it be? They... they can't be dead...

Suddenly, without warning, she started crying again. She cried with the grief of someone who thought they'd cried everything they could, only to find that they had more tears to cry.

As she cried, her tiny sobs shook her entire body, filling the empty room. It felt too big, too empty. There weren't enough people to fill it, just as there no longer seemed to be enough people to fill Raina's heart.

Why did they have to go? Why did they leave me?

She hiccoughed and spluttered, but continued to cry.

I wasn't ready for them to leave. I thought... I thought I had more time.

Her weeping stilled for a moment. She finally realised the cause of her anguish: she hadn't gotten to say goodbye. She hadn't been prepared. She thought that life would just continue the way it had for the past few months. She thought that it would years before she would have to say goodbye. She hadn't been prepared for them to be there one moment... and then... not. As though... as though they'd just been wiped from existence. Like they'd never been there to begin with.

And... she'd never see them again. That was it. Those last few moments that she'd had with them this morning? They'd been the last she'd ever have with them.

She opened her eyes and looked at the room. The last few slivers of daylight shone through the window, casting everything in a gentle glow.

I'll never see them again.

Her eyes started to tear up, and her body trembled. She prepared herself for another bout of crying, but a final thought stopped her.

I'll never see them again... and it's all His fault!

Suddenly, as though new life had been breathed into her, fire rose in her stomach. She stood up, energy pulsing from her body.

It was His fault. He took them. He made them suffer. And, now, He'll pay.

Rage consumed her, but it didn't feel like rage. It felt like power.

For the first time since it'd happened, she was able to think clearly. And, for the first time in her life, her magic, her body and her mind moved in sync.

She looked at the door. She thought about it being ripped off its hinges and thrown in the hallway.

And it did. The sound of splintering wood filled the air for a second, and then it was done.

Arriana and Isa appeared at the doorway. Raina barely even noted that Isa looked worried, and Arriana... wary.

"Raina! What are you doing?" Her mentor demanded, concern, rage and fear flitting across her eyes.

Raina shrugged. She didn't owe them an explanation. She didn't owe anyone anything. It was partly their fault, right? Wasn't it? Hadn't they led her down this path? Weren't they the ones who'd pushed her into a prophecy she hadn't wanted to be a part of? A prophecy that had cost her everything she'd ever loved, that had now ripped her old life to shreds.

With a flick of a thought, Arriana and Isa were thrown up against the wall, dangling a metre above the ground.

Now neither of them hid their fear. Isa was openly shaking, and Arriana's eyes were wide with shock.

But Raina didn't care. She wasn't going to hurt them, she just wanted them out of the way. They would try to stop her, try to keep her here, locked away from the rest of the world. She didn't want that. She wanted out. She wanted revenge.

Her eyes met Arriana's for a moment, and a sad expression overtook the fear on her mentor's face.

"Don't do it, Raina! Don't do it! Don't give him what he wants. This is part of his plan. He will win, and he'll take everything within you that's good and twist it until you're just like him!" Tears streamed down Arriana's face.

I don't think I've ever seen her cry before... Raina thought. For a moment, the fire within her spluttered a little, but when that moment passed, it roared with renewed vigour.

Doesn't matter, she can cry all she likes. I'm not stopping this. He deserves it!

She looked at her mentor again, her gaze hardening. "I don't mean to hurt you, Ari. I really don't, but I'm not going to let you stop me. Samael's going to get everything he deserves. All those people he killed, my parents, my brother, my sister, the humans who lived and died during the war, I'm going to avenge them all." She paused to look at Isa as the cryokinetic shook her head.

"Don't!" She shouted, but Raina sniffed.

"Watch me!"

And with that, she was storming out of the house and down the street. People stopped to look at her. They paused and whispered to each other, but she paid them no heed. They didn't matter. They didn't know what was going on. They didn't know that she was doing them all a favour.

As she reached the hill that overlooked the town, she trudged up it, barely noticing the steep slope. Katana swords materialised out of nothing in the palms of her hands. She expertly flicked them this way and that. The cool metal felt good in her hands, an extension of her power.

She reached the top of the hill. There, standing alone, was a figure staring out over the town, his back to her.

It was none other than Samael.