(no subject)
The band was playing, and the crowd was singing along. This was how I had been spending my Friday nights, in a café with my friends listening to rock bands and eating pizza. It had become routine. I hadn’t had any nightmares lately, so I was in good spirits.
The I saw them. Two girls and a guy, walking toward our table. They all wore black shirts and blue jeans. That was nothing compared to what my friends and I were wearing. I had adopted the punk/Goth look.
Sage was in black pants with chains and a shirt with a black rose on it. She also wore her usual skull necklace and studded belt, and her black hair had blue streaks in it.
Erica was in black pants and a red shirt with the motto "Death’s Door" on it. Her black hair had red streaks in it. She too wore a skull ring.
I wore a black and red plaid skirt with a black short-sleeved shirt. I had allowed them to add light blue streaks to my hair. I didn’t look bad. I enjoyed my new style.
The three made their way to our table, and one of the girls, one with brown hair and the youngest by the looks of her, said in a soft voice, "May we join you?"
Sage glanced at her and nodded. Erica nodded to and turned back to the band who was now taking requests.
"Daydreams and Nightmares!" she shouted. "Play Daydreams and Nightmares!"
Sage laughed. "Erica, calm down."
I grinned. "You are going to make us lose our hearing. You’re screaming so loud."
The three were watching us intently. I was uncomfortable. "Um, I don’t think I caught your names."
The other girl smiled slightly. "We didn’t mention them, as you didn’t mention yours."
Sage turned her grey eyes on the girl, looking at her intently. The girl looked back, her brown eyes revealing nothing.
Something is not right with them. I just feel it. I know it.
The boy sighed. "My name is Marcus. These are my sisters, Anna and Noel."
The brown-haired girl grinned. "I’m Noel. And you are?"
Erica answered. "I’m Erica. These are my friends, Sage and Addison."
At my name, Anna and Marcus exchanged quick glances. I knew something was up.
"Are you from here?" I asked.
"No." Anna studied my face, her eyes locked on mine.
The cult, the one I saw my first time here came over. The red-haired female looked at our three companions with loathing in her eyes. "What are you doing here? Why aren’t you home, planning your useless games?" She saw me and smiled. "I see now. You think it’s her do you? You’re wasting your time. There is nothing significant about her. I suppose you fail again."
They didn’t respond, just glared back with equal dislike. Noel even bared her teeth. Anna clenched her fists, she was restraining herself from something. When she spoke, her voice was controlled. "Our purpose is of no concern. However, do you find it wise to be here? Your little ringleader won’t be happy will she? Slacking on the job no doubt."
A black-haired boy with shoulder length hair smirked. His voice was seductive when he spoke. "You never know do you? How do you know we weren’t waiting for you? Where is Madeline? Did she stay behind, or is she being noble?"
Marcus glared. "Madeline will rip you apart. She hasn’t forgiven you. Her family is pissed too. I’d watch out if I were you."
The girl smirked. "The traitor got what she deserved. And she knows it. As for her family, I look forward to seeing dear Amanda again. And Amina. I can’t wait to see her too."
The boy leaned forward. "Deliver a message to your leader. Tell her Islaya grows impatient. She won’t wait forever. It’s only a matter of time. And you’ll be the first to go." With that, the cult left.
Anna closed her eyes. Noel looked at her questionigly. "What was she doing here?"
Marcus looked at her. "To make life difficult no doubt."
Anna smiled darkly. "The sooner we leave, the better."
Erica cleared her throat. "Um...excuse me, but what was that about?"
Anna gave her a penetrating look. She sighed wearily. "Nothing. An old rival is all."
Erica opened her mouth to argue, but Sage kicked her.
"I'll be back. Going to get another soda," I said standing up. Erica nodded, still looking at Anna.
I made my way across the dance floor. Suddenly, I felt the urge to go to the hallway that led to the administrative part of the building. I really had no idea why I was going there.
I entered the dark hallway, and felt someone grab my shoulder. I tried to scream, but a hand covered my mouth. I found myself going numb, a buzzing in my ears.
I was forced into a room, and a lightswitch was flicked on. There stood the red-haired girl from the cult, her red eyes staring at me. I heard a voice in my head say Run stupid. But I couldn't move. I tried to, but I couldn't.
The girl blinked. Instantly, I felt all feeling return to my limbs, and my mind cleared. I took a step back, and the girl's head whipped around, and she grinned nastily. "I don't think so. Those damn Sorieans were right this time. You are the one we want."
I looked at her. "I...I don't know what you're talking about." I glanced at the door. Two of her friends were standing there, guarding the door. No way to escape.
She hissed. "Don't play with me half-breed. The damn prophecy! You are the prophecy! The reason my coven and I are in the damn human town. Don't play with me." She took a step forward, eyes blazing.
I stepped back into the wall. "I honestly don't know what you're talking about." What kind of drugs were they on?
She hissed and was in my face in an instant, hand at my throat. "You are the Seri. The link between the past, present, and future. Your dreams. They are not dreams. They are visions of what is to be. My queen, to her, you are a liability. We are to kill you. You see, as long as you live, she can't fulfill her plans."
"What are you talking about? How do you know about my dreams? My friends don't even know." I was getting very uneasy. There was no way she was human. Her eyes were blood-red, her skin pale, her teeth perfect. And the power that came off her. She was something. Not human for sure.
She grinned nastiliy. "Katrina's blood-line ends here. Now. The Seri shall never rise again, and the Army of Night shall prevail."
Katrina? The same Katrina whose journal I owned? How did she know all this?
She looked at one of the men and spoke in another language, one filled with hisses and harsh whispers. He reached into the waistband of his jeans and threw a dagger to her. She caught it swiftly.
"Now," she whispered. "I shall extinguish the last glimmer of hope the world has of being rid of the Dark Army." She pulled her hand back, dagger raised. I closed my eyes, bracing myself. i was going to die at the hands of a lunatic, probably high on drugs.
Then suddenly, I felt as though I was being sucked down a huge drainpipe. Wind blew my hair chaotically around my face, even though we were in a room. I felt my hands clench, and my eyes rolled back into my head. Suddenly, I placed my hands against the girl, and uttered something in a voice that didn't belong to me. There was a flash, and she flew back.
I lowered my hands and felt weak. She lay against the other wall and swore. She jumped up and her companions moved closer. Then the door burst open. In came Marcus, Noel, and Anna.
"Get her out of here!" Anna shouted, and Marcus lifted me in his arms. Noel followed, and Anna backed out of the room, a dagger in hand. She kept her eyes on the cult the whole time. But they didn't attack again.
Marcus carried me out to the table. Sage leaped up and Erica followed, demanding to know what was wrong. "We'll give her a ride home," Noel offered. I stirred feebly in Marcus's arms. Sage looked at my pale form for a moment.
"Ok. We'll be there shortly. We have to pay for the food." She gave them the adress. They carried me outside and into the woods. I jolted up. "Where are we going?" I demanded.
"You'll see," Noel said.
"We'll explain everything." Anna then paused and closed her eyes. She opened them and nodded at the others, and they continued walking.
They emerged in a clearing. Men sat around fires, laughing and joking. Some were playing cards. They all stared when we arrived. Marcus set me down, and Noel was helping me stand. "This way," she whispered.
As I walked by, the men all lowered their heads. That was...creepy. I noticed they all wore a uniform, brown pants, brown boots, and a white shirt. They all had swords or bows with them, and they had a strange grace about them.
We arrived at a tent, and a girl with silvery hair and topaz eyes greeted us. She wore a uniform as well, and her face was hard, but not unkind. She looked as though she had been through a lot. It wasn't until I looked at her face clearly, that I gasped and stumbled back.
She was the wounded girl from my dream. Except now, she was healthy, alert, and gave off a sense of power. When she spoke, her voice was quiet, like a whisper in the trees.
"This her? She looks like Katrina. What does she know?"
Noel spoke. "Amina. she knows nothing yet." The silver-haired girl nodded. "Everything went ok I presume?" she asked.
"Not quite," Anna said.
"What happened Celestina?" Amina demanded.
Celestina? The name rang a bell. Then my dream rushed back at me. Amina, lying on a bed, her wounds in the process of healing. The woman had told her not to worry, that the twins Celestina and Christopher had gone out looking for the Seri.
"What the hell?" I whispered to myself, entwining my hands in my hair.
Celestina looked at me, her eyes concerned. "You ok?"
I nodded. "Fine. But what is going on? Why is everyone after me?"
Amina sighed. "A long story."
Celestina held the tent flap open. "Come in, we'll explain everything. And we'll answer your questions."
Something told me I shouldn't just go into a tent with a bunch of strangers, but if there was a small chance they could explain what was wrong with me, I was willing to go against my conscience. Just this once.
Amina, Celestina, Noel, and Marcus came in after me. The tent wasn't large, and we just about fit.
"So, first off, you need to know our true names. Anna, Noel, and Marcus were the names we had to use to find you. Our real names are Christopher, Lenea, and Celestina," Christopher said.
"And you need to know this will sound crazy, but every single word is true," Lenea put in.
I nodded. "Ok, I'm ready."
Celestina sighed. "Where to begin?" she murmered.
"The beginning. With Katrina," Amina said. She didn't sit. She stood, never taking her piercing yellow eyes off me.
Celestina nodded. "Addy," she said kindly, "We are not human. We belong to a powerful magic race known as the Sorieans. We make our home deep in the forests where no human goes. We live our lifestyle calmly and quietly, keeping to ourselves. It is that way now, and has been so for hundreds of years.
"When Sori, our city, was first formed, there was a Soriean named Isolde. She had the power to see into the realms of time, in ways others could not. She saw things to change them. And Isolde became one of our most prized citizens. Many people came to her for advice and guidance, and she happily helped them the best she could.
"But after she had a vision of her fiancee and herself being destroyed, she fled Sori with him, and settled amongst the humans. Over time, she forgot her past and relation to magic, as did her husband. Their last name was Flow.
"Isolde had three sons, all who married and had sons of their own. Isolde died, and Sori grieved for her. But we watched her family closely. All in her family had sons, and all inherited the Soriean blood, but it wasn't pronounced. We feared magic would leave Isolde's bloodline forever.
"But a hundred years ago, in the town of Windy Meadow, a girl and her twin sister were born. They were the first girls to be born in Isolde's bloodline, and the magic flowed powerfully in their veins. But we knew only one of them had Isolde's power.
"We brought the sister's to Sori, pretending to be working for a boarding school. The girls knew they were different, and were eager to train in Sori. Their names were Katrina and Veronica.
"They looked nothing alike. Katrina had warm, hazel eyes and beautiful auburn hair. She was cheerful, compassionate, and dedicated. Veronica however, had jet-black hair, and hard, blue eyes. She was power-hungry. And she knew Katrina had the power.
"Furious that Katrina had the noble gift Isolde had, Veronica fled the city, a few loyal friends with her. And at the time, we thought nothing of it. But after the girls' twentith birthday, and Katrina's sucession of the Soriean throne, things changed. Things that would affect the balance of good and evil forever.
"Before this time, The Races, the Sorieans, Calians, and Genians lived in harmony. We were the magic races. The humans lived blissfully unaware of us, and we liked it that way. They believed they knew evil. Murder, theivery, they were nothing compared to the evil that would rise up that day, only two years after Veronica fled." Celestina closed her eyes, as though in pain. I found myself enraptured in the story, no matter how far-fetched. this beat all novels, bands, and TV programs I had heard and seen in my life.
When she spoke, her voice was filled with sorrow and rage. "Veronica appeared, her loyal supporters with her, along with many she had gained. Except her eyes were black. There was no white in her eyes, they were fully black. Her skin was so pale, it was almost translucent. And her voice was unearthly. It lacked any emotion or signs of humanity. She was evil. No one knew evil before Veronica rose up to power that night. As the Queen of Darkness.
"She had been fiddling in parts of magic that no one ever should dabble in. Magics that controlled evil spirits and forces from other realms. They had promised her power...in exchange for her soul. And she gave them it.
"That night she came. 'I have grown weary of living in exile. I deserve the title my filthy sister has recieved. This is the parting of the ways. No more shall I lay down for The Races. I have formed my own race: The Army of Night. We shall not rest until we have the power we deserve.' Those were her exact words. From that moment on, we knew things had changed.
"Veronica attacked human villages, slaughtering many. She killed memebers of The Races, people she once considered friends. Katrina worked tirelessly to stop her.
"When Katrina had her son, we kept word of his existance quiet, for his safety. About a year later, the great battle at Vervald Falls took place. The Army of Night clashed with the Army of Light, and in the process, Veronica tracked Katrina down.
"They fought deep into the woods surrounding the Falls, and neither could destroy the other. In desperation, Katrina thoguh she was weak, uttered a curse that not only killed Veronica, but herself. The Army of Night now devoid of a leader, retreated into Dela Lande where they have been for a hundred years. But now, Veronica's heiress, the first girl born in her bloodline, has taken the Dark Throne as her own. Islaya is her name. Do you have any questions so far?"
I shook my head, speechless. Then I trembled and I saw it in an instant: a beautiful, proud woman dressed in a brown dress holding a bloody sword. Her auburn hair was falling out of the knot on top of her head, her face scratched and filthy. Across from her, a black-eyed, black-haired woman smiled evily at her. Katrina and Veronica, I thought. Then Katrina said something, there was a blinding, blue flash, and both of them lay dead.
I opened my eyes to find Celestina looming over me, her soft brown eyes concerned. "I saw them," I told her. It was true. All of it.
Celestina smiled sadly. "You are the next girl after Katrina. Her heiress....and Islaya's enemy. We came to bring you to Sori, but you might want to go home and get some things. We leave in two days. We'll take you home now."
****
I ran to my room, Sage and Erica demanding to know where I had been. "Car trouble," I told them.
I slammed the door, my breathing uneven. I knew it was true, and the woman, Katrina, had told me people were coming for me. The girl had too. And it happened.
My vision blurred, and I slumped on the floor, head in my hands. I saw Katrina, who wore a sad smile.
"I'm sorry this happened to you. But take heart, I'm never far."
"No," I told her. "I can't do this. They want me to save people from an evil queen. I can't do it."
"You can. You have Isolde's power. You have courage. You have allies amongst The Races. You can do it."
"No, I can't. I...I don't want to." I didn't say I was afraid. She could probably tell by my shaky voice.
"You can. Never doubt yourself."
"I CAN'T!" I screamed. I couldn't take her calm encouragement. It would have been better if she had yelled. The image of my ancesstress faded, leaving me shaking on the flloor, knees pulled against my chest, sobbing. It was true, and the dreams were real.
Like I knew it was real since Mom died. And if he meant watching people I loved die, I didn't want this power. Look what it did to Katrina. It turned sister against sister. Look what happened to Isolde. She had been driven from her home because of what she saw. And now me. I lost my pride, my dreams, and my mother. Now, I had to lose my friends.
I reached into my nightstand drawer and pullled out a razor blade. I used them to carve on clay when I was bored. But for some reason, I had an impulse that I was going to follow.
I placed the blade to my right wrist, and drew a thin "A" with the blade on my skin. Next to it, I put a "K" and an "I". One to stand for each of the Seris before me. And myself.
It was deep enough to scar. I figured I would use it as a reminder of what was done. And what had to be done.
My wrist bleeding slightly, I fell asleep, dreaming of faceless people being slaughtered while a black eyed, black-haired woman laughed, their screams ringing in my ears, and her laughter as cold as ice making my heart pound in fear as she looked at me with soul less eyes and said, "You'll be next."
A/N: Finally! Writer's block ended! I am satisfied with this, though I may come back and edit. Comment please!