Rylan's POV:
The slam of the door left a silence louder than any scream could ever produce.
I stood rooted to my spot for what felt like an eternity. He didn't just leave...
Fuck.
My fists clenched.
He's lost his mind.
The thought finally broke my paralysis. I marched to the door, ready to yank it open and drag him back to his senses by force if I have to.
Then I felt it.
A pressure, thick and suffocating, coiling around my spine and lungs.
I couldn't move. The air grew heavy, turning to sludge in my throat. I was finding it hard to breathe.
My legs felt like jelly as I fell to my knees, my brain unable to process what's going on at the moment.
My eyes, the only thing I could move at the moment, found Daisy.
She was on all fours, trembling and fighting an invisible weight.
I couldn't do nothing but watch her struggle, fighting for a breath that wouldn't come. A dark trickle of blood escaped her nose. She lost consciousness right after that
This was a nightmare!!!
A strangled, helpless sound escaped my throat. I wanted to scream, to crawl to her, but terror had nailed me to the floor.
My vision began to tunnel, the world dissolving into a blurry picture as I struggled to keep my eyes open.
Slowly a welcoming darkness swallowed me whole.
I passed out.
° ° °
Kael's POV:
The pressure didn't lessen, it intensified.
The force crushing me , stealing the air from my lungs as my vision pulsed with darkness.
His green eyes, which only held a cold disdain that felt like an insult to my weakness, looked down at me, completely empty.
No anger.
Nothing.
"You speak of revenge?"
He spat to my face while bending to my level on one knee. His voice was a calm.
"You make oaths to a corpse? Human, your heart is too soft for vengeance."
He continued.
"You're just playing a game you don't understand. You don't have the hate for it, just the self-pity. Revenge should be the last thing on your mind at the moment."
I was totally dumbfounded. How did he know I was planning on getting a revenge?
I tried to curse him, but my jaw was locked shut. I couldn't even clench my fists.
More blood trickled from my nose. He was right.
I was weak indeed.
"Your pain is ordinary. Your will alone disgusts me. Forget about revenge Kael, you're weak."
He turned to leave, dismissing me completely.
No.
I felt my consciousness fading.
With everything I had left, I forced the words out.
"Tell....me....your...name..."
I rasped.
He stopped on his tracks but he didn't look back.
"Arla"
In an instant, he vanished.
The pressure disappeared.
The world rushed back in a nauseating wave and turned black before my eyes.
° ° °
Zephara's POV:
"I'm hungry."
I said, pouting like a baby while descending the stairs and yawning with boredom.
"Seems like brother's home."
Zarynth, my twin sister said from behind me, ignoring me totally.
Almost immediately Arla materialized in the center of the chamber, the air shifting from a calm, boring atmosphere to that of a sterile cold and intimidating one.
The obsidian walls of the chamber pulsed with a dim, sardonic violet light. And there, sprawled across the Nox throne as if he owned it, was Malakor.
He was shirtless, a female demon with noctis skin grinding on his lap, her moans echoin throughout the chamber.
Malakor's grin stood out clearly against the darkness.
"Cousin! Welcome home. I was beginning to think you'd developed a taste for their filth."
Arla's cold and detached gaze swept over the scene and landed on the female. She made the fatal mistake of looking up, her eyes meeting his for a split second. An insult in the highest order.
In the space between one heartbeat and the next, Arla crossed the room. His hand was right on her throat.
There was no struggle or sound from her as she exploded, her body dissolving into fragments of skins and internal organs.
Malakor shoved the multilated corpse off his lap, spranging up to his feet.
"Arla! By the Abyss, that was one of my favorites!!!"
He yelled, his veins almost popping out his skin.
"You defile my throne with your indulgences."
Arla's voice was quieter than a whisper, yet it sent chills down everybody's spine
"She dare to make eye contact with me, she should be happy my hand made contact with her skin"
The air crackled as their auras clashed, a storm of violet and sickly green energy beginning to swirl around them.
Zarynth didn't even bother to look at what was going on as her eyes were buried in her phone.
"Stop starring at me like that, it's annoying."
She said, irritation scattered all over her voice.
I rolled my eyes.
"Boys, boys. Are we measuring our horns again so soon?"
Leisa's voice, smooth as silk and sharp as a razor, cut through the tension.
I hissed immediately i set my eyes on her.
She emerged from a curtain of shadow, her physique elegant and deadly as always. She placed a calming hand on Arla's arm.
Her touch seemed to be the only thing that's capable of quelling the violent energy radiating from him.
"Arla,"
She said, her voice softening only for him.
"Where did you go? The human world reeks on you."
Arla's eyes remained fixed on Malakor as he answered.
"I went to observe. Nothing more."
"He lies!"
Malakor sneered, though he took a cautious step back.
"I can smell the intent on him. He didn't just 'observe.' He's interested in one of them. He marked a human."
A human caught my brother's eye?
This wasn't just a mere observation.
Everyone's eyebrows arched as questionable eyes landed on him as if it were trying to dig out more information from him.
Even Zarynth seemed interested this time around.
A slow, cruel smile finally touched Arla's lips.
"I found a spark,"
He admitted, the first hint of emotion coloring his tone.
"A tiny, guttering flame of potential, drowning in misery and self-pity."
Malakor barked a laugh.
"A human? You're going soft cousin. Since when do you waste your time on mortal ants?"
"Since one of them,"
Arla said, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper.
"Looked me in the eye, choked on his own blood and still demanded to know my name."
A stunned silence fell over the chamber.
My own eyes widened. A human with that much will? It was....intriguing
"He has no idea what he's started."
Arla finished, his smile widening.
"And I intend to be the one to watch him burn."
I fixed my eyes on his face. Something doesn't feel right.
° ° °
Kael's POV
"You're awake."
I heard a voice say immediately i opened my eyes.
The sterile sting of antiseptic in my nose and the steady beep of a heart monitor made me conscious of where I am.
Blinking against the harsh light, I tilted my head to face who just spoke.
"Rylan?"
My voice came out weak.
Rylan let out a dry smile, his face etched with exhaustion.
"What happened? How did I end up here?"
I asked, unable to fathom how I happened to be on a hospital bed whereas I was lying half-dead in front of his house a moment ago.
Rylan began narrating how he and Daisy passed out after feeling an unusual pressure, and how he found me unconscious in front of his house when he was taking Daisy to the hospital the next day after he woke up.
"That was how you got here."
He rounded up.
"Where's Daisy?"
I asked with unease etched in my voice.
"She's fine. She's resting in another ward."
He studied me.
"You want to see her?"
I shook my head.
The movement sent a dull throb through my skull. Seeing the fear I'd put in her eyes was a punishment I wasn't ready for.
"No. It's better I don't."
Rylan was quiet for a long moment.
"Kael."
He called, seriousness written all over his face
"Is there something you're not telling me?"
I sighed.
I knew this was coming, so I opened up about the black-winged creature which I kept to myself earlier, and I also told him about our encounter which took place in front of his house, leading to the three of us going unconscious.
"I get it, you know,"
He finally said, his voice low.
"The revenge thing. I can't blame you. If it was Daisy... I'd burn the whole world down."
His words should have been comforting, but instead they felt like a deadly sentence.
He handed me a container of food. I ate silently, the hospital jello tasteless on my tongue.
Soon, i was discharged. Walking down the bustling street with Rylan, the normalcy of it all felt like an insult. An insult mixed with guilt.
"...just don't do anything reckless, Kael,"
Rylan was saying.
A sudden screech of tires cut him off. A sedan swerved violently, mounting the curb and speeding straight towards an elderly woman frozen in terror.
I didn't think.
My body moved on its own. I lunged forward, shoving the woman hard, sending us both tumbling onto the sidewalk as the car smashed into a lamppost right where she'd been standing.
Heart hammering, I helped the shaken woman to her feet.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, yes, my boy! You saved me!"
She gasped, her hands trembling as she clutched mine.
"Thank you! Please, let me give you something."
She fumbled in her bag, pulling out a wad of cash.
"I can't take that,"
I refused gently.
"Then take this,"
She insisted, pressing a small, ancient-looking wooden box into my hands. The wood was dark and intricately carved with symbols I didn't recognize.
"It's been in my family for years. You deserve it more than I do."
Before I could protest again, my fingers closed around the box.
The moment my skin made contact, a jolt of cold, sharp energy shot up my arm. The world dissolved into a blinding, brilliant blue.
The sounds of the street, the panicked crowd, Rylan's shouts... everything faded into a muffled hum.
For a split second, I wasn't on the street anymore.
I was nowhere and everywhere.
I was lost to this power that felt both alien and deeply familiar.
Just as suddenly, it ended. I stumbled back, gasping, the box feeling unnaturally heavy in my hand.
Rylan grabbed my shoulder.
"Kael! What happened? Your eyes... they just flashed blue!"
I looked down at the box, my heart thundering a new, frantic rhythm. The old woman was gone.
* * * * *