11 | The Desolation of Rouges
AMBUSH
Krian's POV
Fire crackled around us followed by Solstice's loud cries of help. My brother and I both froze, the reality of the prophecy slowly manifesting in front of us settling in like a thick fog in a suburban village. I don't know if it was the smoke or the undeniable fate that was choking us.
Solstice's fire began to subside and her hands became free from flames. Taylor immediately grabbed a hold of her and began to drag her out of the room.
"Krian! Taylor! Oh my God!" Both of our parents screamed in horror, rushing to our side while some of the staff tried to contain the fire.
When did they arrive? I asked myself. I felt faint, my head aching and pounding. Mom tried to shake me out of my own thoughts but all I could hear were her muffled screaming.
"Krian! Krian!" Dad snapped me out to reality and he kept slapping my shoulder lightly.
"You have to get out now. Authorities are coming." Dad pulled me but the staff noticed how he tried to get me out of the burning building.
"Don't let them escape. This is arson!" One of them shouted, pointing in our direction.
"No! They didn't mean it! Please. They're in danger." Mom pleaded but she got pushed out of the crowd and the staff began to chase us.
"Mmmmm!" I tried to call for mom and the ground shook violently.
"Earthquake!" They all cried but Dad kept going out of the fire exit, our bodies crashing and bumping against multiple people who screamed for us to stop. My throat began to itch and people started to grab me. Scratches made my arms bleed slightly and it stung against my sweat.
As we were about to reach the door going to the fire exit, it was kicked by a large man with his eyes glowing the shade of orange. His breathing was heavy like he rushed to us and dad pulled me to a stop. The man looked feral but the moment he saw us, he seemed to recognize us and his demeanor changed from wild to docile.
"Who are you?!" Dad demanded with a firm tone. I could hear footsteps coming to us. Turning around, I saw my brother carrying an unconscious Solstice who's wrapped in a white damp clothing.
"Those are my friends, dad. That's Lucas. They're here to help." Taylor huffed out a breath, adjusting Solstice in his arms. Dad only nodded at them before his hold on me tightened. I turned around waiting for mom to follow but all I could hear was fists pounding at the metallic door upstairs.
"Mom can't follow us. There's too many of them. She's holding them off." Taylor explained with sorrow and dad let out a breath of frustration before he looked at me.
"She will be okay, Krian. She's one tough woman." He squeezed my hand.
"Let's go." Dad ordered the large man and the man gave me a look before he opened the door wider for us to pass. Sirens came disturbing the once peaceful community of the Upper East Side. Everyone ducked while we escaped, the crowd starting to make it easier to blend.
"Why are we escaping? Shouldn't they understand what happened?" I signed to dad who was now on the lookout while the other men were trying to find a way without the police blocking the roads.
"If I were in their shoes, I would have thought you tried to burn the library too, Kree. No one will believe that you three didn't do it. What happened there anyway?"
"She just went on fire." I tried to explain in the simplest manner and he raised a brow at me.
"What do you mean she went on fire? She set herself on fire?" I shook my head.
"No dad. More like she exploded and convulsed. Fire came out of her." I tried my best to act the way fire exploded out of her and he laughed at me. I huffed out my frustration.
"Okay okay. So she's one of you?"
"Well... she has a mark..." I scratched the back of my neck, unsure where things would go now that there was someone who bears the mark of the moon in our midst.
"Are you sure?"
"What are you guys talking about?" Taylor came to our conversation, still clutching on Solstice who seemed to have been drained from her recent outburst. Literal outburst.
"Did she really go on fire? Like burst into flames? Fire fire?" He asked Taylor, still in disbelief at what was going on.
"Yes! She just burst into flames. Okay we gotta go. People are starting to look. Follow Lucas!" Taylor gestured at his friend who was now waving at us at the corner of the street.
"Let's go." We rushed to where Lucas was, his friends keeping watch while others pointed to the right to follow a tall muscular woman who was already waving for us to follow her. Her chocolate skin glistened with sweat, her orange tank top flailing from the wind as we ran. I heard people behind us beginning to shout and dad cursed beside me. He grabbed my arm tight, making me wince and he began pulling me to run faster.
"Wait... What's going on?!" I heard Solstice's voice on my left and Taylor tried to calm her down while he continued to run while carrying her. She thrashed, trying to get away from my brother.
"Get away from me!"
"No! You need to listen to me, Solstice. You just burned the library. They will take you away if we don't go hide now!" My brother struggled to calm her down and she continued to grab him by his shirt and shake him.
"Let me go!" She screamed.
"There they are! NYPD! Stop and put your hands in the air!" I heard a man order and I whimpered, my heart racing in panic. Are we going to jail?
"Run faster, Kree. Come on." Dad huffed out, his breaths labored but he's trying to keep up the pace the insane woman in front of us has set. She ran like there's no tomorrow. Her limbs stretched and her feet landed loudly against the paved road. We zoomed past the unsuspecting people who could only shout and squeak the moment we passed by them.
"D-d-d..." I wanted to talk to dad as my throat itched, pushing me to have the urge to say something. Deep inside me, I felt the need to talk.
Can I talk? The ground rumbled and the pebbles on the ground began to rattle. People began to scream in panic.
"D-d-d-d..." I huffed out a breath, frustrated and angry I couldn't talk to dad while we were running for our lives.
"Earthquake!!!" People started panicking and began to run for their lives. Chaos came to the streets of New York and some began to get run over by speeding cars. From one street to another, cars began crashing against cars, poles, trash bins and fire hydrants; drivers trying to avoid people who started running in the middle of the road. The ground continued to shake and my steps faltered. Losing my balance, I slammed myself on the road face first, making me gasp and groan in pain.
"Krian! Shit! Get up!" Dad ran back to me and grabbed me by the arm. I shook my head and signed "No."
"Come on, Krian. They're coming!" He wheezed and his sweat trickled down his face and neck. My lungs burned and my feet ached but that didn't stop my own father from picking me up.
"Come on." He groaned, having trouble carrying me.
"Sir, let me carry her." Lucas came to us offering help. He looked frantic with his disheveled brown hair that was sticking all over the place. I looked at my brother who kept trying to convince Solstice. He has put her down but he was holding on to her while she continued to try and push him away. I couldn't keep up with everything. The police were chasing us. My dad was out of breath trying to take me away from the horrible library fire. People with inhumane speed were helping us. The ground was still shaking.
"Krian! Krian! Go with him! Please! I am begging you. Run!" Dad's eyes were red and tears were starting to trickle down his cheeks. He wiped my nose trickling from blood after my fall.
"I am not like you and I cannot keep up but I can hold them off." He hugged me tight. I gasped in shock, not knowing what to do. I have never seen him cry or even break down like this. I hugged him back and tears started to sting my eyes.
"I love you, Kree. You and your brother mean the world to me and your mother." He kissed the top of my head before letting me go. I just looked up to him. What's he talking about? What is he planning to do?
"Taylor! Take care of your sister!" He shouted at my brother who was in a constant tug of war with Solstice's arm. He stopped fighting and gripped her with one arm while he stood a few feet away from us, his eyes going wide.
"What are you going to do? Dad?!" He began to pull Solstice and approach us. He knows. He knows what's going to happen. I began to punch my own father who kept telling me it's going to be okay.
What's going to be okay? People chasing us and wanting to kill us? Having creatures running with us or chasing us?
"Krian! Look at me." He demanded, shaking me until I could finally stop and listen to him. This was crazy. I only wanted to celebrate my birthday. Why am I running for my life?
"You have to go. I cannot keep up with you and your brother-" I shook my head and tried to pull him forward.
"I am human, Krian! Not like you. I cannot run anymore, child. Please! Run now."
"POLICE!" I spotted the uniformed authorities coming down the street and the crowd was slowing them down..
"Go Krian! Please! Go now! Taylor, take care of your sister, okay? We will meet again. I promise. I will come back for you."
"How will we find you? The police will arrest you, dad!" I signed while breaking down in front of him. My hands shook while trying to tell him what I thought. Maybe my anxiety was getting my thoughts lost in translation. He held my hands together tight.
"I will be fine. I promise you that. I will see you again. Find the pillars of divinity or whatever you need to do to save the world. I know this is too much to take but please, Krian, do not just save the world. Save yourself. I want to live another day thinking my children are alive." My tears burned my eyes, the bitter feeling of leaving my father to an unknown fate corrupting me. I was beginning to hate this ordeal.
"If leaving my family means the world burning to the ground, I will do it." I hated to have this day being separated from my family.
"No Krian. We will not be the same if the world burns. Come on. Go!" He pushed me, his attention to my brother who has now a confused Solstice in his arm.
"I will see you again, son. Don't worry about us. Use every resource we got, okay?"
"Yes dad. Thank you for everything." Taylor nodded at him in respect and it broke my heart watching the men I look up to having this conversation like it's the end of the world. Was it the end of the world? Will I end the world?
More police sirens came and about fifteen rogues started to growl, their claws coming out as they started to form a line of defense for us. More people screamed at the sight of them.
"We better go now or else they will catch up. Milan has already taken care of both streets so we can have safe passage." Lucas spoke this time. I assumed that Milan was the tall girl from before.
"Okay. Thank you." Dad gave me one last kiss on the forehead and he hugged my brother before stepping back.
"Oh! What was your name again, son? Your real name."
"It's Sveinn, Dad." Taylor smiled proudly. Lucas began to carry me on his back and walked past my brother. Turning back one last time, he gave me one last view of my dad. He smiled at my brother, nodding.
"Sveinn... That name suits you better." He smiled one last time at us before he began to walk towards the police who were just a few feet away from us.
Goodbye, Dad. I'll see you with mom again. My tears made everything blurry and the last thing I saw was my dad being arrested by the police before Lucas crouched down and boosted us into a run that was inhumane. We passed by people in a blur and I could only do so much as cling into Lucas tightly, scared to let go.
An hour had passed and we were inside Lucas' apartment. No one was talking and even Solstice only stared on the mint green wall in front of her.
"We need to regroup." Milan took a peek at the window. We were on the 3rd floor of an apartment building in Buffalo, New York.
"C-can someone turn on the TV? I wanna see what happened to the library." Solstice finally spoke and her voice was shaky. Her tears had dried up probably from the wind that harshly slapped our faces when we were running away from the police.
Lucas sighed before he turned the TV on and he went on the news channel immediately. The screen popped up with the scene of the New York Society Library still burning.
"Oh God! It's all my fault!" She cried, her hands covering her mouth in horror as she continued to watch.
"In a developing story, the New York Society Library is still on fire after a suspected arson took place early today. Police are now looking for the suspects of this disaster and they have identified four suspects who left the crime scene. If you have any information about them on their whereabouts, please call the authorities." The reporter broadcasted with our names flashed on screen with our faces caught on a CCTV camera plastered on screen.
"Meanwhile, police has arrested Mr. Joel O'Connell as an accessory to the crime." Another CCTV camera flashed on screen with my dad pulling me to run faster in the streets of the Upper East Side. "Turns out, two of the suspects are his children and now he's taken to custody."
"This is so messed up. I cannot mindlink our friends!" Lucas cursed, pacing in his room. Mindlink? What is that?
"We need to think of a plan. Solstice, you remember what we have made you read, right?" Taylor sat beside the still crying woman. She never stopped crying and blaming herself for burning the building.
"Y-yes..." She sniffed before she faced us, her fingers fidgeting. "There will be a time 11 pillars of divinity come to the world to save everyone from devastation. At the center of it all will be a woman of pure light radiating. The other ten with the mark will help the woman defeat the evil. To be identified, they will have their own marks coming from the Moon Goddess. Like in the book of Nox the Conqueror, it says: Eleven pillars of light will descend on Earth. The empire will have its foundations shaken to its core. Do not fear the unknown and embrace their retribution. Who can protect the souls of the living if not for those chosen by the Moon? Specters bear a mark. Imprinted it will burn when the cursed child walks. Manifestation of curses will be the time She who leads will turn to rot. Be wary of the child of the woman who is blessed with the golden glory. Marred with darkness, the cursed child will face the one who wears a veil of gold." She explained and spoke a passage from the book.
"I have a question about this. What's the relevance of those books to you? You are obsessed over some myth. Ah!" She began to crouch, her hand going to her side.
"Oh shit! What is she doing? Is she going to burn down my apartment? You know I can't afford that, right?" Lucas came as quick as lightning with a tub of water in his hands. I quickly held Solstice's hands and she began to calm down and the hot wave she was emitting died down.
"What? H-how did you do that?" She asked and I pointed at her mark.
"What Krian is telling is, you are one of the pillars of divinity in the book. You have been marked by the Moon Goddess." Taylor finally told Solstice. Lucas and Milan gasped with their eyes widening in realization. Solstice on the other hand burst out laughing.
"You kidnapped me all the way here believing in some bullshit from a fictional book written centuries ago? You're delusional!" She began to laugh more. I let her go and her laughter was replaced by her moaning in pain.
"I think I got stabbed in the ribs." She groaned. Patting herself around, she looked for a sign of injury or blood but she found nothing. "Guys? What did you do to me?"
"I told you. You've been marked by the moon. That means, you're one of us." Taylor tried to convince her and she rolled her eyes before wincing in pain again.
"Seriously, I am going to start screaming bloody murder right now if no one tells the truth. You hurt me!" She began to glare at us, threatening us so the police could come into the apartment. Not wanting to waste more time, I grabbed her hand, took her to the bathroom and pushed her in front of the mirror. I tapped on her left side of her ribcage. She slowly turned to the side and lifted the shirt Lucas gave her to cover herself earlier when we arrived.
"Oh my God! What is that?!" She exclaimed in horror. Her mark now looked like a scar that was flawlessly carved on her skin with detail. The tower on her ribcage stood proudly with wings of fire spreading on both side, fading away. At the back of it was the moon. It was horrifyingly beautiful.
"See? You're marked and you're the prime suspect now to the greatest arson of the New York Society Library." Taylor remarked and I slapped his shoulder at how callous he was.
"You have no choice but to come with us, Solstice. We also don't know what is ahead of us but we need to trust the Moon Goddess."
"Cut that crap, Taylor! Ugh! I cannot just abandon my life here for something out of this world! Myths are myths!" She dropped her shirt and went out of the bathroom.
"And yet myths hold something truthful in them, don't they?" Lucas blocked her way out of the apartment and she let out a groan of frustration.
"Look! I didn't cause that fire and we might have hallucinated from all that smoke!" She tried to rationalize.
"What about your mark?" I signed and she just tilted her head at me.
"She's asking how about your mark?" Taylor translated for me.
"Coincidence!" She threw her hands up angrily before pacing the room the same way Lucas did earlier.
"Lady, you need to calm down. You're going to be heard by the neighbors." Milan tried to calm her down but she only glared at her, challenging her to stand down.
"Then what about this? Can you now explain this without your reason for us hallucinating from the smoke?" My brother, Lucas and Milan stood in front of her. Their eyes began to glow different colors; Taylor's eyes glowed light blue, Lucas' eyes were in the shade of orange and Milan was in the shade of gold. A gasp came out of Solstice's lips as she fell to the ground while looking up to the three werewolves. I only stood there and watched.
"The books you have read and mastered? Those were the records of our empire that were only available in the human world. You know about it and maybe deep inside you, whoever you are, your soul has inclined to the Moon Goddess herself." Taylor crouched down to her level and showed her his claws.
"Do you believe us now?"
"Y-yes." She finally replied. There was a second of relief washing over us and pride radiating off Milan when a knock on the door made us all jump to our feet.
"Shit! They've found us!" Lucas cursed, running to the window and taking a peek from the blinds.
"Okay. Guys, we need to go now! That's our tenant right outside our door. He must have seen the news!" He half-whispered, half-yelled at us.
"Police are coming three blocks down." Milan confirmed.
"Yo! Do you have any place we could crash tonight?" Lucas asked my brother and he nodded in return. "Great! Let's go!"
"Lucas?! I know you're in there! Come out now or else things get ugly!" The tenant began to pound harder on the door and I began to panic.
"Where are we going?!" I asked Taylor who held my arm and started to pull me to Lucas' bedroom.
"I know a place where dad hides his stuff. It's an old house but it's still good." He only replied before Lucas opened the window to his bedroom.
"No one is here! Quick! You go first, Solstice." He helped her get out of the apartment to the small window.
"Milan, can you guard the door for us, please?" He requested and Milan without hesitation went running back to the main door.
"Once we go out, carry your sister and I can get Solstice behind my back so we can go faster. You lead the way." Lucas instructed before I was pushed out of the small window. The railings down to the apartment were rickety and my whole body shook in cautious steps going down the old ladder.
"There they are! NYPD!" I yelped as the police came chasing with their guns pointed at us.
"Shit!" Lucas cursed, looking at me.
"Krian?!" My whole body burned and my throat began to hurt as if I was getting strangled. I began to choke and my senses began to dull.
"Don't talk, Krian. Hang in there. No one will hurt you. Please don't talk! We don't know what will happen please!" My brother began to groan in pain as he carried me while at the same time, my body began to heat up and burn him.
"What's happening to her? Is she going to be on fire like me?" Solstice screamed. I gasped, my body arching making me fall from my brother's arms.
"Krian!" Taylor shouted my name as he tumbled down on the ground.
"Put your hands in the air!" I heard the police shout at me. With shaky legs, I stood up and breathed. What's happening to me? I
"Put your hands up!" They shouted again and I looked at my trembling hands. Black dots were spotting my vision, and the ground seemed to gravitate me more and more. My hair began to float and I looked at my body that was beginning to turn black, like the abyss was swallowing me whole. What's happening to me?
"No!" I heard my brother scream before I turned towards the police and shots were fired. The ringing sounds made my ears bleed and I held my hands forward, trying to protect myself from the incoming bullets. But nothing came. All I heard were gasps. Opening my eyes, I trembled as the bullets floated midair, a few inches away from me.
"What the fuck?! Fire!" They fired more at me and I began to get frustrated, trying to tell them to stop their useless attempts. There was an invisible barrier on me and every bullet that came crashed on it, landing on the ground like metallic rainfall.
"Stop!" Taylor screamed and then, I saw a police officer aim at my brother. No! No no no! I ran towards him and as the police were about to pull the trigger, I jumped in front of him and I screamed in pain as the bullet pierced my skin. A shockwave came out of me, the impact of my scream sending people off their feet. Police came crashing down the floor, their ears beginning to bleed while the others were knocked down by the impact. My brother was knocked off a few meters away from me, his body smashed against a building on the other side of the street. The ground shook again and the glass on the buildings smashed and rattled. Another earthquake shook the city and this time, the sky started to become darker. People started screaming in panic and horror.
"Krian!" I could hear my brother calling but I was too dazed to see where he was. My gasping breaths made my lungs scream, and I coughed up blood as the bullet in my left leg began to hurt like hell.
"Krian!" I heard my brother again but people began to stampede, their cries of terror drowning my brother's voice. I tried to stand and walk with a limp but people came down from all the buildings and cars that my weak body couldn't help to fight back to. With one last push, I threw myself down an alley and ran for my life. My leg was bleeding but I kept pushing, my ragged breaths deafening the sounds of screaming people and the sirens of ambulance and police cars.
Coming out of another alley, I spotted a hospital. My dad would be disappointed if he saw me dying on a dark alley without seeking any help. I coughed hard again and my vision started to go blurry. One step to another, I pushed myself until someone grabbed me by the hand and told me to sit on a wheelchair. I wanted to say thank you to the kind nurse who whizzed past the now injured people bustling in the emergency room. The whole building was stinking of blood.
Just as I began to feel safe from the chaos, police officers kicked the doors of the emergency room and began to search. I yelped in pain again and pushed myself to stand up to run and hide.
"Miss! Come back!" The kind woman tried to stop me but another injured person grabbed her, wailing in pain from her broken arm. I broke past a random room, the lights were on but no patients in sight. I huffed and coughed, holding on to my leg for dear life as I began to bleed out more.
Oh my God! Is this how I will die?!
I could hear footsteps coming in and I ran to the last hospital bed, crawling under it. Fuck! The blood! I panicked as I began to smear the clean white floor with my crimson guilt.
"Oh? That's weird." I heard a man's voice as he entered the room. His shoes tapped on the floor slowly and I held my breath, not wanting him to hear me. His shoes stopped on the bed I was in and I heard him chuckle.
"Hello." He crouched down with a wild smile on his face and I yelped again in panic causing the whole building to shake.
"Fascinating." He talked to himself while he watched the floor rattle and groan for a few seconds. He looked at me again and smiled.
"Come out, darling. I don't mean to harm you." He said with his hand stretching towards mine.
"You're hurt." He looked at my bleeding leg and his smile was replaced with a frown. Without a word, he pushed the bed out of the way making way for me and probably for him to kill me.
"Who are you?" I asked anxiously, praying that he won't be here to kidnap me or hurt me. He smirked and took off his white coat. Pressing it on my bullet wound, I groaned in pain.
"Who am I? I am one of whatever the fuck you are." He confidently replied before smirking devilishly at me.
Happy weekend everyone! So another character has been introduced! Can you guess what type of creature he is?
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