"Cut the crap Alaric and tell me what you truly want before I kick you out of this place"
"It's a good thing that you still have some brains in that head of yours. I, playing the pitiful part is definitely not like me at all"
"Two minutes. All I'm giving you is two minutes before I kick your sorry ass out"
"Fine then. I know about the shadows that you've been seeing for most of your life"
That statement caught me off guard. Why would he talk about the shadows. Nobody ever believed me
"What shadows"
"Don't play dumb Solace, you know what I'm talking about"
"What about them"
"Rumors from above have it that the shadows cannot hurt you"
That made me laugh.
"And who told you that insane lie"
"You breathing is proof enough. Nobody has ever survived more than a week after encountering the shadows yet here you are alive and kicking. I also know that the shadows low key help you fight"
"Why would the shadows help me fight against their own Alaric. Have you ever asked yourself that question "
"I took don't understand,but after experiencing your hits firsthand, I can tell that that strength is definitely not human "
"And so what do you want me to do about this. Your time is running out"
"Protection "
"Protection?"
"Yes protection "
"Protection from whom?"
"The shadows. We are bonded Solace and I know that up ahead we are going to encounter some pretty messed up shit and I accept that I am not as strong as I thought I was"
"Has anyone ever told you that you're a piece of shit?"
I walked towards the kitchen to look for something to eat
On opening the kitchen drawers, I couldn't help but feel angry.
They couldn't even stalk up this so called kitchen
I opened the fridge and the only thing that was there was water and some cans of beer.
I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and took a bottle of water instead.
I picked another for Alaric and tossed it at him
It was unfortunate that he had good reflexes though.
I wanted the bottle to hit his sad excuse of a head
"Solace"
"My answer is no"
"You cannot tell me no!"
"It's my choice on whether or not I protect you and besides ,how sure I'm I that you would hold your end of the bargain, not that I need you in the first place"
"You need me out there Solace"
"Alaric, you and I both know clearly that it's the other way around. I don't need you but you, you need me and your scared of admitting it"
The distance between us gradually lessened as we spoke
I only realized it when very little space was left between us.
Everything else was silent and all one could here was the sound of our breathing and rapidly beating hearts
I took time to look at him as in truly look at him as a man and not my enemy or as a threat
And to be honest, if it wasn't for our past encounters and our terrible encounters that we both had with each other, I might have maybe found him attractive
He sighed
"I am a manipulative jerk and I'm selfish and that is something that I will not deny. I don't care about anything other than myself and I don't think I can ever change, but here I am begging you to please protect me"
He put all of his defenses down and looked at me sincerely. He wasn't lying this time neither was her putting up a front
"Tell me Alaric, why should I protect you when all you have done so far is try to kill me"
I said surprisingly softly
The distance lessened again
His arms though hesitant wrapped themselves around my waist and pulled me closer
I could feel his heart beat rather fast and his breath quickened
"Because if you protect me then I'll be able to protect the team. I cannot do this without you Solace so please reconsider"
"I..."
Suddenly alarms started blaring from all over ruining whatever peace that was within the atmosphere
I could hear sounds of guns and ammunition from a distance as well. That's when I felt it
The darkness
They fucking infiltrated the place
"Something is definitely wrong outside"
"I have no weapons present here so I am somehow useless"
"We need to leave now!"
Alaric ran out the door leaving me in a state of slight confusion
What just happened?
Did he just leave me behind despite knowing the fact that I'm defenseless?
I needed to gather myself together and get my head in the right place otherwise I would end up dead
And besides, I wasn't in the mood of dying anytime soon
With my bottle of water in my hand , I walked out of the house calmly because what was the point of panicking and running around like a headless chicken
The sky was pitch black and apart from the flaming balls of fire falling from the sky , everything would look normal.
"This is a code red, all members assembly in the emergency escape room"
A robotic sound blasted across the hidden speakers .
This caused even more panic
Buildings were collapsing and smoke was filling up the air. Amidst all that chaos ,o couldn't help but sigh
The beginning of the end. This was what it was
Should I follow these people that don't see my worth and always seem to try to kill me or should I just wait this out and let the darkness consume them all
"What are you doing standing Solace! Do you want to die!"
Azriel
I started to have a feeling that this guy just happened to show up whenever I was about to make some serious decisions in my life that may or may not cause the death of the entire group of elites.
"Run along Azriel, I think I'm going to sit this one out"
"What do you mean by sit this out? You need to go to the escape room. The shadows managed to find this place and now they are not going to stop until everyone else is dead"
"I don't mind dying Azriel"
"Well I am not okay with that. Fuck this, you are coming with me!"
He said as he grabbed my arm . He took very big steps as we headed to where I assumed was the emergency escape room
As we walked slash ran, I realized that though I could feel the presence of the shadows ,I couldn't see them
"Why can't I see them" I accidentally said it out loud.
"See what?"
"The shadows.. Azriel look out!"
Speak out the devil
A shadow broke out from the tree line and charged towards us straight on .
I could see it's pitch black eyes and it's dark long claws as it increased it's paste
Coming from its mouth was a black foam as it bore it's fangs at us
"Stay back Solace, I'll protect you"
"You should run Azriel, and don't look back, I can handle this "
"Solace"
"I said run!"
He however didn't move, not even an inch
"I'm staying here with you. I won't leave you."
The shadow then did something unexpected. It let out a snarl that ultimately produced a very black smoke from its mouth
Instead of it attacking, all it did was let out that black smoke
"I didn't think that that is a good sign" I said as I moved back,
When I got no answer from Azriel, I got concerned"
"Azriel we need to run now!"
He still didn't respond and when I touched him, chills ran down my spine.
He was cold. So cold
"Azriel?"
That was when he turned to look at me
"ˈsäləs"