butterz

What would she do if Brea didn't open the door. What if her friend was dead too? Idly her hand fell into her pocket and she fingered the smooth stone the stranger had given her. Even in her pocket the stone was still cool. Then the door opened and Brea ushered her inside. Nelly's hearing started to clear, the buzzing in her head stopped once she was inside. Brea was a mess; she still had blood in her hair and on her face, her clothes were still stained with it. What happened... How could she even answer that? Didn't Brea see the ships and the soldiers? It was quieter here, you couldn't hear the strange weapons being fired or the explosions really. It was like nothing was happening here. Nelson stared at Brea for a very long few minutes. She was sickly pale and sweaty, her pupils huge. Her head faintly twitching and her lower lip quivering. "They're dead..." Her voice was weak, her throat was dry. Nelly stretched her shirt out from her belly indicating the blood that still made it damp. "He...he killed them. Eliot is gone...they're all gone.." Tears started down her cheeks as she felt the tension of her trauma weigh her down. "S-something is... h-happening out there..monsters.." She was shaking now and Nelly felt her stomach turn. "B-brea.." Nelson's knees gave out from her exhaustion from running all this way and she collapsed. The bottom of her feet were all tore up from walking all the way to the city without shoes. Her head spun a little when she fell, black spots distorting her vision. What the hell was happening...why...why. She choked on a sob as the reality hit her. She was alone now and everything was getting worse, things were happening that she didn't even understand.

The cool water sent a fleeting chill down her back as she sank down. Paying little regard to what followed as Davorin turned his hunger onto the servant. Pieces of blonde hair floating in the water caught light from the moon and shimmered like gold. Then within the room it seemed to darken and even the glowing moonlight seemed less as the monster fed. Arianna stared ahead into the darkness that stretched and slithered from the wall. Death was here; she could feel the ripple within their reality as the doors to the underworld begged to open. However the presence of such was but a reflection, as though she were looking into a mirror and staring at herself. Arianna grinned as life tried so very hard to hang on; as that servant’s soul tried to remain tethered to its mortal flesh. Her fingers of both her hands griped the edge of the basin as he took his final draws of the servant’s blood. Briefly a sensation of pleasure warmed her flesh as the body toppled to the floor in a rag-doll like twist. She closed her eyes and the grin disappeared. Arianna laid her head back and drew her arms down into the water. Who really was the mouse? It certainly was not her. She didn’t open her eyes but she felt the water’s surface ripple when he touched it and meet an end against her body. Arianna found it funny how hard he was trying to frighten her. Shatter her spirit? What a quaint notion. “I have more important games to play than ones with you Lord Davorin.” His determination to scare her would only be amusing for so long; she opened her eyes and looked up at him. He was like a fly plucking at a spider’s web and sure he wouldn’t get caught in it. Lord Davorin certainly thought high of himself too, trophy slave? “Beg…and scream…” Those words spilled from her lips with an erotic purr, her hands lifting from the water and tracing idly along the edge of the metal tub. “ Lord Davorin.. you’re to late for all of that…” Water dripped from her fingertips down the side of the tub, in mockery of the drops of blood that had tainted the servant’s flesh. “Fear…” He was a fool if he believed anything he could do would gain him any results. She laughed and lifted her hand palm facing up; she pursed her lips and blew air against her hand. “Dust.” Arianna brought that hand to her throat, her fingers curling and tightening. “You have no idea Lord Davorin, no idea of who I am…” She said softly, her eyes seeing past him – beyond him. The prisms in her crystalline eyes moving with light and shadows. From her throat her fingers traced down her chest, between her breasts and lower. “I already belong to terror…to darkness. I already have a Master whom I cradle to my breast. It is an unwise path to tread Davorin by threatening me.” The corner of her lips curled into a maddened smile. “I have already forgotten what the sun looks like.” “I do not need to call upon darkness for it is already embodied within me and I am the devourer of fear. I will reap the souls promised to me, tread lightly innocent ones for there is another monster in this world.” She laughed and it was as dark as it was beautiful. Aria abruptly rose then, the water spilling down her body, illuminated by the moonlight shinning through the window. “I am not yours, nor will I ever be. Put me in a pit of darkness and the darkness shall become mine, bind me under the sun and to flames and it too shall become mine.” She stepped out of the bath opposite side he stood on. “Threaten me again Lord Davorin and you may find yourself in one of your holes. Attempt it and you will unleash a genocidal fate. A wise man once said, let sleeping beasts sleep.” She drew her long hair across her shoulder pausing to pick up the towel folded neatly aside. Arianna approached the lifeless body, pale and elegant in the aftermath of the feeding. “Mm.” She continued on leaving the servant washroom to return to her room.

It could have been romantic, heroism wasn't something that happened. Very unheard of. Lilly wasn't sure what to think as her mind still spun and her body shook from the rush of adrenalin and fear. The stranger.. her hero was still holding on to her. There was a sense of security in those brief moments, everything was fine even though it really wasn't. Her 'boyfriend' tried to kill her! Lilly hardly noticed as he started playing with her long, now mostly tangled hair. She was still trying to figure it all out, but there was nothing she could really remember not even the restaurant they had gone to for dinner. It was all a blur and kissing her savior was the furthest thing from her mind. In fact if she realized he was playing with her hair she might have had a polite fit. A strange man playing with her hair wasn't something she'd think was appropriate, good thing she was distracted by her dilemma. From being safe in his arms to being pushed off him, Lillian wiggled her hands free of the ropes as he got up to...Now she was certain that desk was pretty damn heavy, for just one person. What she saw him do with it, move it like it weighed nothing. None of this was making sense by now, her situation, this guy jumping out of a building and then sending them into the next one. No normal person could do that. What he'd use the desk for next, well his actions dismayed her. "Hey wait a minute you're going to hurt someone!" She didn't understand what was happening, why would he try to stop the crews?? What Lilian didn't know was the emergency crews were armed men apart of the secret government military force to take out any opposing threats or mutants to the system. They were the syndicate, they kept order by force for those persons who break out beyond the brainwashing; they extinguish anyone with unnatural abilities. She quickly threw the ropes aside and got up, pieces of glass falling off her dress as she stood. Lillian hesitated when he told her she needed to go now but her inner gut was telling her the same thing. She needed to get out of there. So she did, she ran. Not even giving a chance to ask his name, or even to thank him. She just ran exiting the room and into a hallway with...doors. Black, unmarked doors. The room she ran out of when the door closed it locked, she heard the click and tried the knob. He was locked in, she was locked out. Lillian kept going down the hall past the doors, her eyes fixed on the green exit sign when all of a sudden the power was shut down in the building and the red emergency lights came on. When the red lights came on a very loud and annoying alarm buzzed throughout the building; with the power off the elevators didn't work. Lillian made for the stairs at the end of the hall and started down. There was a lot of floors to go.

It had been of little concern to her the condition of his servants; as long as they preformed the tasks presented to them she didn’t care. The ones that were gagged she left them gagged as for what they smelled like she ignored that too. She had a goal and she was fixated on it until the end of the day. That isn’t to say she didn’t notice a presence often in her wake – she did, his presence bestowed a sensation that often lingered. None the less it had not disrupted her tasks. Now basking in the moonlight, aglow as though she was a creation chiseled by Gods, he approached. The darkness in the room sighed as if it bowed to his grandeur and with him came a chill; a breath of death. There was something that beckoned the monster to her side rather than wish to repel it. She could sense the waning battle behind his words as the monster clawed for the surface. She could feel how it desperately wanted her to be afraid. However the monster may be disappointed, even as he neared her heartbeat remained a steady unnerved thrum. Fear had left her a long time ago. Fear replaced by a disease of wickedness. Her eyes partly closed as he stood close to her, and the corner of her lips pulled into a cynical smirk. Some strength. That wasn’t quite good enough now was it? Pain wasn’t a worry in her mind; no her worry was for the poor monster being suppressed. What good is he only at half-mast – power cannot come restrained. She wasn’t going to stand behind someone who didn’t want to embrace their full potential. Being told what he is capable is much different from seeing it; a force to be reckoned with and yet he lives in decay. Arianna’s eyes opened as he drew back her hair. His hesitation was followed by his cool breath rolling across her warmer skin. Not yet, his hunt wasn’t over yet. He hasn’t earned this victory yet; but one thing was certain she wasn’t going to be like the others he has had. It wasn’t going to be a bed of flowers, it wasn’t going to be sweetly sensual or romantic. It was going to be untamed, primal and violent. She drew away as if to torment his hunger, to taunt the monster to break free. Her injured hand left idle behind her back while the other raised up. Warm fingertips graced across his cheek to the corner of his lips. Her index finger traced along his lower lip, curling and slightly pulling his lips apart. “I will not be one of your servants to feed from.” The words hummed off her tongue like honey, her hand dropping and lightly grasping his throat her fingertips caressing his skin. “What is a Lord without a Lady…” There was a shuffling of feet at the entrance, a servant hovering in wait. Her eyes flickered across Davorin’s shoulder to the poor soul who shifted nervously. “…and what is even a monster when it is restrained…” She mused drawing her hand away. “My water is getting cold.” She stated with a hint of irritation for being distracted from her bath. “Come and see to your Master’s needs.” Arianna turned away as hesitant footsteps brought the servant closer; fear oozing from every pore in their body. Aria lowered herself into the cooling water.

It was not a challenge to remain unseen in most cases, growing up without shelter in the slums and shadows of the world she had adapted in order to survive. The ability came naturally and it gave her the benefit to go unnoticed by the servants who hurried nervously through the house. She’s only come across a few who’s level of anxiety and fear were numbed. Those who weren’t consumed by their nervousness would glance her way now and then with little but a passing thought. They have been here longer she suspected, or in someone’s servitude most their life. You could always tell the newer addition to someone’s collection. They always made mistakes because they were constantly worried, constantly afraid. Arianna knew little about her new employer; who or what he was.. was really of little concern to her. The less she wanted to know, the better. Of course there were things she couldn’t help but observe. He did have a collection of servants who could be appreciated for their appearances. Male and female alike, healthy and clean of different ages. Some had fight in their eyes – that need to rebel against the chains that destined them here and others had that shadow over them; submissiveness no will to run, or fight just exist and bend to another’s will without conscious. She always had a tendency to watch other female servants longer; admiring their timid nature as they worked usually with their eyes cast down. Any time someone spoke to them, bumped into them they’d jump like a little mouse sometimes even startled by a loud noise. They would make insignificant mistakes now and then, and be reprimanded by someone above them. After all, everything down to the smallest detail had to be perfect – needed to run perfectly. She also observed the house was set in a certain motion, the same repetitive rhythm. Well that was going to change. Unlike the majority of the female servants who had a small wardrobe to choose from of their master’s choice Arianna had her own clothing. She was dressed moderately in a gray plain dress. The circular collar close around the bottom of her neck, leaving her fully covered down to her feet. She had left her hair down today, the wild waves spilling down the length of her back to her hips. Admittedly she wasn’t happy with the amount of dust clinging to the bottom of her dress as it breezed across the manor’s floor. The conditions of the home weren’t acceptable, not when a Lord had such pretty servants ghosting around. She understood the condition of the home was mainly because he didn’t have enough of a household to keep up with it. Little did she know what the true situation was but even then that didn’t matter. Arianna felt a tingle wisp down the back of her neck and turned her chin toward her shoulder. There was an instinct she recognized, it was something very primal. Something she carried within herself as well. The shadows seemed to cling around him, drawing to his presence as he moved. It could be intimidating, the way the shadows rippled and almost seemed alive but she wasn’t afraid of darkness. “I can adapt to any situation.” She stated, the sunlight fighting through the windows and the shadows of the hall reflected and deepened the prisms in her eyes. She watched his fingers breeze over the stone as if he was admiring the imperfections before he lifted his hands to indicate the home. “As long as you do not violate our agreement and remember I am employed then my loyalty will remain in your services my Lord.” She drew her finger along the windowsill she was nearest too, picking up the dust thicker than dirt and darker than her skin. “This domain is yours but hardly befitting a Lord, understand I will not remain in your employ if this manor remains a hobble.” But that is something she was going to remedy, the manor as it is decaying is a perfect canvas to paint upon and build something. She smeared the dust between her finger and thumb. “You will hear complaints from your servants I’m sure but the renovation starts today.” Arianna had a goal to achieve, each choice she made was leading up to something. Being here under his servitude only brought her closer to what she wanted. She turned her eyes to the curtain that was moth eaten and sagging. “Everything that is not salvageable will be burned.” She grabbed ahold of it and tore it down. “What is salvageable will be sold and perhaps we can put some merit behind your title.” Aria looked to him, her eyes flowing over his stature and settling on his shadowed face. “Hm.” Indeed his precious servants weren’t going to enjoy her presence here. She turned from him and as she walked away to begin this new challenge, he’d be able to feel the determined drum of her heart beat and even her footfalls echoed the steady beat. Arianna was a firestorm and once she had her mind set on something she was not going to be deterred from it. He had a few choices, stay out of her way as she set the tasks into motions or be subjected to her suggesting he and his comrade become involved. Either way by night fall she had the entire manor stripped down to the walls and bare floor. She put the servants he had to work until their fingers bled and their knees were bruised. When the final rays of day disappeared and the stars twinkled in the night sky, the entire manor was dust free. Even she had worked as hard as she made the others work and outside smoke billowed toward the evening sky as what was already ruins were now ash. The manor walls breathed with new life being able to exhale once all the weight of neglect was lifted. She even took particular care with the chess room, it was cleaned and organized but repairs of the house will be left for the next few days. Then selling of the items that were sellable and lastly will come the new styling. All of which was going to wait as she slipped from her dirtied attire. The dress falling and pooling at her feet with a lifeless sigh before she stepped away from the discarded item. The servant’s washroom was barren besides one large wash basin in the middle of the room and a smaller hand sink underneath the window. Her toes curled against the cool stone floor; the servants quarters being on the bottom floor and the stone the manor’s foundation. She smiled as she felt the faint pulse of the earth it thrummed in mimic with the ache in her body. Arianna turned her hands over, her nails were chipped and there was a cut across her palm. She watched the dark blood drip and fall to the floor before making her approach to the tub. The room illuminated by moonlight, that really spotlighted the wash basin. Clean water had been left for her, she had waited for the other servants to retire first before she took her turn. Standing at the tub’s edge she looked down at the water, at her barely visible reflection in the soft lighting. She touched the surface, drawing her fingers along; the water was cooling but she didn’t mind.

Happiness is but a glass fixture and after it shatters it is almost impossible to put the pieces back together perfectly. Innocence is very much the same in that regard but it often doesn’t shatter, it crumbles and turns to dust; making it impossible to mend. In some cultures it is believed that a name can hold power, that a name can instill a purpose. Like any or most children she was special to her mother and thus she was given a special name. Arianna. Her mother believed there was a grand almightiness that surrounded her daughter, that there was something pure – Holy about the child she had given life too. It is possible that could have been the case before fate decided to change the way that life was. From happiness their world spiraled into havoc. The holy child in her mother’s eyes was tainted and a pure soul decayed into foul rot. As happiness shattered so did innocence crumble and turn to dust. There was nothing holy now, not a pureness or almighty light. What was left behind; a sinister seed. It grew and it consumed, it changed an innocent child. It destroyed. There are no good things in the world anymore, from her perspective. Her childhood was taken from her, her mother murdered and her home sent into an unrepairable ruin. The world was not kind to homeless children of war where she hailed from. There was no sympathy, no heroes or solace. Many died – from illness, starvation and others were taken for a multitude of vile purposes. You had to be smart to survive, you had to be unseen to remain free. The lifestyle often had those turning to captors in hopes they could find a better place. Sometimes it was possible but not worth it in her mind. Death could have been an easier way out of turmoil but it was all worth it for the revenge she’d later be able to have. Madness out strained logic and fear did not exist in the pit of her being. Death – Oh in those final hours as twilight had blanketed the land some years ago, she could see the reaper waiting to collect those souls. She might have smiled then and moved on – wading through the pools of blood at her feet. It wasn’t the only time she has killed someone but it was the first and most satisfying experience. She did get pleasure from it but she only killed out of necessity after that. Survival. Even so there was something different about her. From afar she could be perceived as prey but in the pools of her crystalline eyes there was something primal and vicious. Of course one such as herself could only remain unseen for so long. In order to keep her freedom and not become some pig’s pet she had to get closer to her enemies and those she loathed. Her beauty and ability to adjust to her target’s needs aided her in gaining a place in society. Even made her name known. She became a servant to upper class, royal women. Her beauty was like a jewel that accented their presence, her silence and proper obeying charm made her pleasant to have. She satisfied their needs accordingly and made her rather valuable in that line of servitude. She was passed along of course, bought out or demanded through higher channels. She went where the duty carried her and the further reputation she built the more luxurious the life was. It was easy when she didn’t give a damn about their politics and didn’t fraternize behind the curtain with her Ladies men. They might have tried but what dwelled in her deterred them. Now she ended up here, no longer serving a Lady but a Lord. It happened during some affair – a small political gathering. She had been there of course a shadow to her Mistress. She doesn’t know how the transaction proceeded between the parties, she never knows the bidding or plays of power or the egos that were crushed by losing her and she doesn’t care to know. However this place was dreary compared to her previous employs. It was a nice home but there was dust and an abandonment of delicate care. It wasn’t the worst of places by far and there was barely a complaint in her mind about it. It was mostly quiet, guarded in a sense as though there were secrets undiscovered. Nicer compared to the hustle of a high ranking woman’s demand. That wasn’t to say it would be any easier – there was much to do in this house and she forged a mental list in her mind. Many of the tasks she’d set out on weren’t to appease her employer – she never did anything to please her masters but more for her own desires. Arianna took pride in her duties because they reflected on her person even if the circumstances weren’t ideal. It was however her choice to be where she was, she had achieved her place – she had not been enslaved or forced into this role. She earned her reputation, and when you had nothing else that was valuable. She was up before the sun birthed the horizon and broke the night, in any royal home the house and servants came alive most times before their masters. Especially since she was new she liked to get a feel for her environment alone. She had explored the halls and open rooms like a phantom until she met up with a servant who’d guide her through expected duties. It came easily enough since many households functioned the same and she excelled with ease through tasks. She never chatted or spoke unless it was required and her expression was unchanging throughout the hours. She wasn’t here to make friends, she wasn’t here to indulge in rumors or secrets. She was here to do a job and Arianna took her responsibilities seriously. Down one of the halls she paused, she hadn’t been bothered by the lack of light – more soothed by it but she was stopped by a sliver of golden light stretching across the floor. There was warmth in the ray, radiating faintly from the glow. Her eyes followed the peaking sunshine from the floor to the curtain and she faced it. Slender fingers grasped the cloth of either side and she threw them open with a reverence for the sun. Dust stirred like a cloud around her and the sunlight caught strands of her blonde hair igniting them in waves of gold. She basked in the tenderness as it kissed her warmer skin, like an angel bathed in god’s light. Her action startled a witnessing servant who quickly hurried away. Arianna smirked and as she went down this particular hall she drew back all the curtains unveiling tapestry and décor from darkness and discard.

Glass shattered like a romantic cascade into the air but there was noting romantic about this demise, nor nothing sweet. It was bitter, it was a bitter and frightening fall until the unthinkable happened. Someone was brazen, idiotic enough to jump through a window and join her in her down fall dance. It was fine though, not like her mind could actually make sense of what was happening, why she was hanging from that crane - why he had put her there. What had she done wrong? Was she so foul that she deserved this? Not really. She was a kind person, she was sweet and shy and she never insulted or was never rude to anyway. She wasn't selfish either, she was thankful for what she had and before this... she had been thankful for finding him. But now things were different, how could she even forgive something like this? No one could really. It was an unfair betrayal. She gasped, there was little time for her to say a word or even begin to comprehend what just happened again. This foolish person who jumped out of a window to join her, who could have fallen to death with her instead sent through into another building. Glass shattering ungracefully around them as they were tossed, like gravity just let them go into an office building hitting a desk hard. Lillian had yelled of course but what else could she have done? They were moving to fast, to hard but at least she didn't fall to her death, at least she was alive. Ask her later if she was glad to be alive, right now she'd probably say no. The crash was hard on her, tumbling and rolling through glass wasn't something she did normally. Luckily his body cushioned their landing and took most of the damage. Though slamming into that solid desk wasn't pleasant. What the heck was it made of, steel? Lillian was seeing stars for several seconds as the world spun dramatically but she was safe. She was safe in his arms against him from the landing and while it took her a second to see properly she was given some insight into her own dreams. Black. He was like a shadow, an obsidian shadow but as he came into focus that changed. Of course she was shooken up and scared. She was almost going to be splattered all over the pavement! Not to mention her hands were still tied by that damnable rope. It was quite stressful. And... of course she cried, she couldn't help the emotions that death lured to the surface. It almost made her realize how stupid and pathetic her measly life was. It was all just very, extremely over whelming. Outside a few streets away you could hear the sirens of emergency vehicles. Some bystander had called the police. A little late. But then again, the emergency crews weren't like the ones you and I know of today...they were more like a clean up crew. They never came to save or rescue they came to clean up the mess. They cleaned up murders or accidents there was hardly ever a rush to save someone's life.

Adrian offered the smallest apologetic smile when he had poured the substance on Scythe. However when he started talking about what happened, it was hard. It really was. It wasn't the easiest thing to admit too. Adrian abandoning them all for Megan. He wasn't sure if he could say if it was a mistake or not, who knows what could have happened to him if he didn't go. She had been watching to get her hands on him for a long time and she stooped low enough - not all by her choice. Adrian wondered if she knew, if she knew that he could see what most people didn't. He was just a pawn after all, he wasn't important and he wasn't strong enough to be in anyone's way so maybe, maybe she had seen something too. She could have just as easily killed him to get him out of her way, her motive for wanting Adrian was never really relieved to him. But then again, perhaps it was. The truth. Or some of it, she lead him to it. She showed him. He looked at Scythe's hands, staring at them a moment. He didn't exactly feel better, facing Echo and Scythe that wasn't so hard.. no Alik was different. He had gotten fairly close to the other. Alik had been with the colony the longest, since Echo and Scythe were secrets. Alik was like an older brother, a father even he was family. "He's really mad..." Adrian was really worried, really scared. He glanced at Echo...she knew, she knew how mad Alik was at him. Her and Tasya took the brunt of it. "Megan is human and jackal. She's a halfbreed." Adrian gave a slightly defeated shrug. "I..don't know, I know that the core used this...beings lifeforce how I don't know...I just know what I had seen and that child isn't the only one. The other colonies too, they are all powered by something, someone and the Jackals want to destroy them." Adrian shrugged, he didn't have the answers for her. He didn't know. "I don't know...whoever the leader is.. I haven't figured it out yet. I just know that.. the jackals are afraid of what is in the cores. We have to protect the ones we can.. we need to go to the next sanctuary, the next colony and warn them and help them. They won't be prepared for what happened to us either..and we, Starfall was more advanced. So...we need Alik and Tasya..." He sighed then and started finishing up with Scythe's injury then bandaging it.

Run away? There was no room to run anymore. They say that some people have a calling, that they are called upon by God to preform a most courageous act. What they don't tell you is that these unfortunate souls become despised for their heroism. In this world there are no heroes. It is a lonely world and people have been completely conditioned to live behind a veil that utterly disconnects them. They are conditioned to hate those that may be able to stand up to the tyranny their leading power has caused. But they are conditioned, what the citizens of this world know is that a hero is someone to hate, to blame. They are the enemy and so because of this the heroes are gone, are afraid to face this evil within their world. How she ended up here was sorta a long story. Lillian Wayne had been out on a date with a very nice gentleman. It was a lovely date, one a girl could only dream for. He was charming, like always. Ever since she's met this prince of her dreams she had been the happiest girl. All of her friends were jealous of course. How could Lillian possibly met someone so perfect and handsome? There was nothing special about Lillian, she was average and a simpleton - lower, lower class. But somehow fate had the two bump into each other at the corner market. He had accidentally knocked her bread she paid for right out of her old fashioned wicker basket. To make up for it he offered to pay for the bread, then one thing led to another and he asked her out. They've been going steady for almost a month now. Lillian trusted him, she really did and for once she thought that she actually felt connected and it made her feel alive. It was an indescribable feeling one that her friends couldn't even comprehend. Lillian trusted him enough to tell him her secret. Her secret dreams. However these dreams Lillian has aren't dreams at all but premonitions ones she did not heed them. This date she went on with her prince charming was going well but then when she found herself waking she wasn't on the date anymore. She was dangling from a tower crane between the glowing skyscrapers. Some point during her evening Lillian's prince charming drugged her, brought her up to the crane tied her up and lowered her so she'd be hanging helpless in the air. He left her there of course, all alone. He never planned on being there when she woke up and found herself dangling in the air so high up that she would not survive the drop. It took a mere millisecond for her to realize where she was and within that small amount of time panic took control. She screamed and she kicked her feet and the rope gave a good foot. Lillian froze and tilted her bed back to see that the rope was coming untied. She tired not to move, sweat prickling across her skin and the wind licking up her skirt cruel and cold. Golden eyes widened, her pupils dilating as she watched inch, by inch the knot unwind. Then the rope slipped and Lillian felt like she floated in mid air before she began her fall. She screamed and it echoed between the tall buildings that hummed with a continuous electrical current through a mainframe that was wired throughout the entire city. The hum of power through the city practically silencing her terrified cry. 'So what do you dream about?' Strange things. Shadows, shadows that are like obsidian glass and doors. Black doors. I can never open the doors but I don't think I'm supposed too. 'Is that all you dream about? Or do you dream about other things, normal things?' No, not really. It's usually just the same dream. It has been happening more frequently, this dream. Of the shadows and doors. Night after night now. 'Maybe it's just stress.' She should have known something was wrong after that, he seemed uncomfortable the more she spoke about it so she just stopped. You're right, that's probably it. He hadn't talked to her for a hole day after that! But then he came by to her small house in the blue class district. He had brought her flowers, and he smiled, so sweet asking her out for dinner. Of course she wouldn't say no! She could never say no. She wished she did now, she wished she never met him. Her life, it flashed before her eyes as she fell. Lillian's hair caught with the sharp updraft and her skirt flayed around hips. Her life. There was nothing worth remembering, but as she watched it play out in her mind she could see the haze settled in this world. She could see the veil. Everything she knew, everything she was taught growing up it was all a lie. It was a facade. So she'd die for her mistake, for her folly in trusting and thinking she was in love. She was going to die when the truth has been shown to her! Tears were caught off her cheeks and sucked out of her eyes. This was it.

Everything he was feeling right now, the blush on his cheeks from his boldness to the rise of warmth in his chest had to be put aside. This was serious, Scythe's condition was serious. He frowned and decided to remove all of the bandaging, his friend's skin looked tender and raw around the wound and closer to the entry it was purplish. "I can try too, I don't know if it will. We can hope it will run maybe get us there halfway even. He shouldn't be moving around.." But they needed more supplies, cleaner water. Scythe could get very sick if they didn't take care of him. Once the bandages were all off he examined his friend's injury closely. His fingers gently gliding over tender skin, following the prominent outline of his ribs. Adrian very sharply remembered the strong body he had touched before and now he seemed so weak. "I think we should leave at night, tomorrow night. Scythe can eat some of my food and drink the water to help give him more strength. It'll be cooler out..." Cooler but not necessarily safer. Adrian pressed his lips together, Echo was right of course. He needed to tell Scythe and Echo needed to hear the truth too. It might help him when he faced Alik. Adrian opened the medical kit and the first thing he pulled out was a small bottle of alcohol. "Sit back ok, this is going to sting." Firstly, Adrian poured some into his hands to help clean them. There was no point in using the water to clean his hands. Then he poured the rest of the bottle over Scythe's wound while carefully rubbing away any dirt that he could see. He expected Scythe to flinch a little or even a lot, so he waited and let the wound breathe before he'd get to work on it. It was a bad patch up, he could see where the medical staff at the colony had tried to sew him up but because he died...or they thought he died they didn't bother with making it nice and clean. Echo did a better job with what she could do and that probably saved his life. "There are...some things I need to tell the both of you." He was nervous, he was afraid Scythe was going to be mad, he was afraid they weren't going to believe him. "Scythe I...after they told me you were dead I..left with Megan." He waited in silence a moment as he picked out an almost empty tube of antibacterial cream. He waited for a negative repercussion. "I didn't know what to do, you were gone and I was scared. I didn't want to be at the colony anymore but I couldn't just leave on my own.. I know it sounds really bad but.." "I went with her because something wasn't right. I know she was the enemy and it was because of her that you...but I needed to go. She thought I joined her because she convinced me. She thought she had me under her spell. I got in deeper and it gave me the chance to find out some information. Alik is.. really mad at me, really mad..." Adrian glanced at Echo and he wondered if she was mad too and Tasya. "I didn't go to turn against them, I went because it was the best chance I was going to get. We needed to know what I found out. The Jackals and her... she was never in charge. She never did what she did because she wanted too. She was being controlled by someone stronger. She didn't have a choice." Adrian applied the ointment to Scythe's wound as gently as he could. "The core...before it went down, we were there. She didn't want to leave it. All this time we thought that Alik and Tasya were somehow connected to the core but none of us knew what was inside it. There was a person, a child...a child not from here. It.. was Megan's child. She was trying to protect her, to keep her alive by doing what this person wanted. She didn't have a choice. She isn't dangerous anymore...I couldn't let her die in the colony when it started coming down. But whoever it is that was controlling her, they let her go. They took what they wanted, needed from her. I don't know why they wanted to destroy the core but they succeeded. She won't hurt anyone anymore."

Adrian hadn't noticed Echo withdrawing, nor did he notice Scythe's weapon dropping. He couldn't look away from him. Adrian breathed a sigh as those hands touched his shoulders. They felt heavy and he felt suddenly exhausted and weak. He shuddered as Scythe moved his hands up to his neck, his hairs standing on end from the contact. It was hard to believe that this was even real. Adrian brought his hands up and gently traced his fingers over Scythe's forearms. I missed you. "I..." He looked into Scythe's smokey blue eyes and felt everything just crash down around him. Adrian cried the tears spilling freely even though he tried to keep them from coming. He threw himself forward and wrapped his arms around Scythe's lower back along with the chair he sat in. Adrian was so thankful, to whatever God or higher power that Scythe was alive. He was alive and he had been so close this whole time. He wasn't going to waste this chance. He held on so tight, afraid to let go. "Your message.. Scythe, I love you." Adrian let go of the chair and Scythe just enough so he could bring his hands up and touch his face. "I love you." He said it again as he cupped Scythe's face. "I kept it, your message... I had lost you and I kept it. Its right here." He took one of Scythe's hands after letting go of his face and bought it to the flash drive hanging on the chain around his neck. Then Adrian kissed Scythe. He needed to do it, he needed a real kiss not a stolen one he had took when Scythe was sleeping. His hands settled against Scythe's chest, Adrian could feel the difference, slimmer, weakened too. "E-echo..Echo I have water and some rations left. There is also a medical kit in the back. Can you bring it all please?" Adrian pulled up Scythe's shirt to look at Echo's handy work on bandaging Scythe's wound. "You need water and food.." He shook his head making Scythe take his shirt off. Adrian peeled some of the bandage away to get a better look. A gunshot wound would take a long time to heal under normal circumstances, under strenuous it took even longer. "This isn't going to work, you aren't in the greatest shape. " None of them were really, it wasn't safe being out here the air was toxic and they had no sure way to get water or food. Not only that but it was going to be impossible to keep Scythe's wound clean. Adrian waited for Echo to bring what he asked, offering Scythe a bottle of water that was half full. "There is a colony we can go too, they won't turn survivors away...Echo how far away is Alik and Tasya?" Not that he wanted to really face them, that was going to be hard and take a lot of explaining.

Adrian glanced down at the flash drive when Echo tried to comfort him and he gave a nod of his head. It didn't really help him feel better but he followed her. His expression set in a deep frown at the condition of the place, but really it was better than most places you'd find out here. He walked sort of like she had not really attempting to be quite but he did keep a few feet between them. The further they went into the rubble the more nervous he became. His heart was racing and he felt his skin breakout in a cool sweat. He had stopped behind her but enough so that he could see the soldier sitting with just a defeated weight on his shoulders. Adrian's chest tightened as his anxiety picked up again, he had to fight back the fear and sadness that came thrashing through him. Seeing Scythe like this triggered the painful memory from that night. It was supposed to be a fun night, a celebration. Scythe was actually going to go, Adrian had got them all costumes to wear and no one would be the wiser. No one would know who Scythe and Echo were. He remembered meeting Scythe somewhere quite over looking the small streets and the lovely lights they had hung up. People were on the streets mingling and laughing, they had even accepted Tasya. Adrian's plan had worked to show her in a different light from the one the council had painted her as. Everything was going perfect and he remember Scythe. He had looked so handsome too but they really didn't get much of a chance, Megan's goon was waiting for that opportunity. Adrian blamed himself really, if he hadn't been there distracting Scythe he wouldn't have been shot. Megan's goon shot Scythe and Adrian remembered screaming but he couldn't get to him because that stupid buffoon was trying to drag him off. But Scythe stopped that from happening, giving Adrian a chance to get away and then that's when Alik and Echo showed up. Tasya had done a great job in keeping the people from panicking while the situation was handled. Adrian had been so upset, hysterical really he had to be taken from the scene. He couldn't handle it, he's never been so attached to someone before. Adrian blinked his eyes had become heavy with tears before he even realized it. He wasn't sure if he could do this, he felt like he didn't have a voice at all. But he didn't need it really. Adrian walked past Echo toward the broken soldier. The condition he was in, was awful. He needed to be properly taken care of, any of his open wounds could get infected and then he could die. That thought was very painful, he could hardly bare it the first time and to think of it actually happening wasn't settling. Adrian sat down on his knees in front of Scythe. Part of him was very angry at the way Scythe was letting himself go. Scythe was a soldier, he was strong, he was supposed to be able to survive. Adrian swallowed trying to get his throat from being to dry. He was shaking, he couldn't contain the trembles. He didn't know what to say, what to do. He thought about the message Scythe had left for him on the flash drive, and how stupid he felt afterward. He had thought Scythe liked, loved someone else but it was him the whole time. He clenched his hands as he looked up at his friend, he remembered the first time Scythe stayed with him. Adrian had kissed Scythe while he was sleeping. He also never forgot what the other's heartbeat felt like under his hand too. He looked down at Scythe's raw knuckles holding onto his weapon. "Scythe..." Adrian wanted to say he was sorry, he wanted to say how much he missed him, how much he loved him too. He wanted to just tell him everything but he couldn't get any of that out. "You idiot. What are you doing huh? Do you really want to get sick and die? You just can't, you can't do that to me again."

This wasn’t a good idea, coming into the city but it wasn’t like she was really thinking. There were people sure, people you didn’t want to run into alone. Once they were someone, once they were someone who worked in an office or once they were a stay at home mom. Now, now they were something different. They were desperate, they were sinister, they were dangerous. Things were becoming even crazier after the ships had shot across the sky landing wherever it was they landed. People were fighting on the streets, fires had been set, women and men could be heard screaming. Glass breaking, gun shots echoing one after another. It was all falling on numb ears and as she came into downtown she didn’t make eye contact not that anyone would really bother her. Nelson looked just as crazed as the rest of them. Blood staining her jeans and t-shirt, she hadn’t realized it yet but she was walking barefoot. She fell asleep with her clothes on but had taken off her shoes, Nelly was in such shock that she didn’t even feel the ground under her feet. She even had blood in her hair, most of the blood was her brother’s he had bled out all over her. When she had cried she had wiped her face with her hands only adding the crimson sheen to her cheeks too. It took her a good hour or two to get to downtown from her house walking. During that time she developed a small tick, her head twitching whenever the nerve in her eyes pulsed from stress. Someone lowly attempted to hustle her and she had enough common sense to pull the gun on them. She didn’t have to say anything, the wide eyed look and the tip of a barrel pointed at someone’s head was enough to freak them the hell out. They bolted not even paying attention to a fine little detail – the hammer was locked back, the mag was empty. Nelson had stood there for a few minutes after the weasel ran with the gun pointed at nothing. The memory of what happened all to fresh and vivid in her mind’s eye. A scream from inside a building snapped her out of the reliving of her family’s demise and she started walking again. She didn’t put the gun away this time, instead she held it in a knuckle whiting grip. The gun was like an anchor now, it was like the only thing she had to weigh her down to reality. You know that bad feeling she got earlier? Well that feeling came back, it pierced her consciousness like the prick of a long jagged needle. One of the crafts had landed in the city but it wasn’t the craft that she found. Oddly this street was empty save for Nelson and a group of soldiers. They were marching toward her, decked out in suits from head to toe. The helmets they wore covered their faces and as they neared her they already assessed that she wasn’t a threat even with a gun. The helmets they wore fed them information, translating langue and telling them if a target is hazardous or not. Since her gun was unloaded she was not a threat. They marched, these men in black suits who were quite taller and intimidating in their suits that almost didn’t reflect light. As they passed her one of them stopped and faced her. In his hands he carried a weapon that looked similar to a gun but it was bigger, foreign and strangely built. Nelson felt like she couldn’t breathe again, that same feeling when the sky looked like it was falling. The soldier reached out and took the gun from Nelly but he didn’t take it without replacing it. He left something cool in her had and rejoined the others that marched down the street. She watched them disappear into the dark and when they were gone she looked down at her hand. It was a stone, he gave her a smooth transparent emerald stone. Nelly stuck it in her pocket, what else was she suppose to do with it? The hole encounter was bizarre and she wasn’t even sure of what had actually happened. Maybe that guy had actually attacked her and knocked her out, maybe she was just dreaming this entire thing. That had to be it right? This was just a nightmare…one that wasn’t ending. She knew better to believe it was a dream so again she started walking. Where was she actually going? Well it didn’t occur to Nelly that she sort of knew where she was headed. Her subconscious was guiding her through her own shock to somewhere, where she might be able to find someone who’d help her. A friend. “Yo, you here to fight? Hey you, I’m talkin to you. You gonna fight?” You gonna fight. Fight. It was familiar to her, that word but her brain struggled to process it. She spoke but she didn’t have a clue what she said, she couldn’t even hear her own voice. It was like she was having an out of body experience, watching herself from afar. Whatever it was she said earned her a point in a specific direction and the guy giving her a weird, that’s sum crazy bitch kind of look. As she headed in that direction the doors to hell opened, and things just got worse. An explosion rocked the dead streetlamps and a gust of fire burst from another street into the intersection behind her. The explosion caused the people hanging around to scatter and the guy that helped her out scurried into the building he was standing outside of. Nelson was distracted by the fire the burned across the road that she didn’t notice the soldiers in black coming down the street. What she did see as the fire continue to burn were the silhouettes of something she couldn’t make out moving through the fire. Nelly had to cover her ears at the ear-piercing screech whipping by her, whatever was coming out of the fire was firing a weapon and the ammunition was whizzing by her. Nelson was so afraid she couldn’t even run, she just coward there covering her ears and squeezing her eyes shut trying to wish it all away. The noise didn’t ease up, things only got louder. When she did open her eyes she found herself surrounded by the soldiers that were trying to push the fight forward. Run. That word, she didn’t know if it was spoken or… but what she did know was that it compelled her like a command she couldn’t refuse and she was running, she was running hard. She didn’t stop. She ran until the pavement made her feet hurt and her legs felt like they were going to give out. Sweat streaked through the dried blood smears on her face, drenched her hair, she was hyperventilating by the time she actually stopped running and the sound of fighting had faded behind the taller buildings. Trembling fingers traced over the address on the door and she knocked, then knocked again.

“Nelson! Nelson!” We all knew the end was coming; the lakes, the ocean were drying up. The polar icecaps were all gone, food was running out, fighting escalated. You knew it was getting worse when every country withdrew. The president brought our military home and then.. that’s when things began to get worse. It was a homeland attack, the Whitehouse.. gone. And then? A massive EMP blast put us into a blackout. People started raiding in desperation, fighting each other in attempt to prepare for..the end, for survival. Our entire infrastructure was collapsing and we were incapable of resetting the balance. Where are your rights now? Everything everyone has sacrificed, fought for, protested for none of it matter now. No one cared about any of it anymore. This was it. Nelson stood outside of her suburban home, standing out on the side walk with her eyes drawn to the sky. Most of the neighbors left, to where? Some place, left to be with their family, left to kill themselves, left to seek sanctuary in their church or gone some place they think they’ll be safe and wait it out. Nelson’s family was all right here, her parents, her brother. They weren’t close with anyone else in their family and her grand parents passed away before she was born. It was just them, them and a couple of their neighbors. People were suspicious of each other now, people you thought were your friends once now looked at you with uncertainty. They had maybe one neighbor on their street who still visited them, a single mother with a toddler. Nelly used to babysit for her, used to have fun playing make believe with the little girl. She wished she could go back to that but there was no going back from this. Something didn’t feel right about today, even though the world was succumbing to chaos. Nelly had a bad feeling. The sun was setting and they had just finished sharing their dinner with their neighbor and her kid. Nelly felt like she needed air while they played a board game, playing a game like nothing was different. She was out here for an hour or so, another neighbor just got back from visiting a store trying to get what supplies he could. He had seen Nelson outside sitting on the small cement bench in the center of what used to be a perfect green yard. He glared at her suspiciously before unpacking his car and going inside.(Some people were able to get their older cars up and running.) It creeped her out really, the way she’d always catch him looking over whenever she was outside. Her parents and brother never noticed it, Mary the neighbor with the toddler kinda did but she never said anything about it. She’d just exchange a look with Nelly and shrug. He was weird but who could blame him? Things weren’t the same and fear changed people you thought you knew. The sky was pretty tonight, with just a couple of harmless clouds and the sun casting a orange – pinkish glow across them. Nelly felt like it was going to be the last time she’d get to see something so pretty, that it was going to be the last time she’d be standing in their yard. As it grew darker and the sky changed from that pinkish-orange to red she walked down the small slope of their yard to the side walk. There was a little wind, it picked up the lighter strands of her brown hair like a puppets arms. Something just wasn’t right. The air felt different, it was warm out since they were in the middle of July. It wasn’t the heat that changed the air; it almost felt like there was an invisible vacuum sucking the air right out of her lungs. Then streaks of light, much like hundreds of falling stars shot across the darkening sky. Nelly yelled for her dad but her voice sounded so little over the sound that pierced right to your eardrums. The ground started shaking, power lines swaying. “Nelson!!” It wasn’t stars that were falling though, they were crafts entering the atmosphere. The Earth was being invaded. Nelly had to cover her ears because the sound they made was excruciatingly loud, her father yelling at her to come back to the house but she couldn’t hear him and before he could get to her a massive light exploded through the sky overhead. It shattered glass, threatened to cause weaker buildings to collapse and then a massive force riveted across their small suburban neighborhood. The force of it knocking Nelly down and her father too. After the spacecraft entered their atmosphere everything settled then. There was no more noise, no more streaks across the sky it was almost like nothing had happened. Nelly’s father got to her and helped her up, her ears still ringing in the aftermath of the noise. As he dragged her away she noticed that neighbor across the street staring at them through his partly cracked window. He gave her the chills. It was an hour after that, that Nelly’s dad walked Mary and her daughter home making sure she locked the front door before he came back. With only candles to light up the house they all planned on turning in early, there was no point in staying up and whatever that was that happened…well nothing happened after so what was there to worry about? They had no radio, no tv or phone or internet to find out – everyone was in the dark. Her parents tucked her little brother in who slept downstairs with them and Nelly went up to her room and laid down. She couldn’t sleep though, minus the minor headache from her ears hurting before – she just couldn’t shake the bad feeling she was getting. When she fell asleep she didn’t remember, she had no sense of time when it got dark but she’ll never forget what woke her up. Nelly woke up with a start to someone in her room, the shadow figure looming over her bed. Nelly instantly had the instinct to scream for her dad but the person in her room reacted before she could putting their hand over her mouth. “Ahh, ah..shhh.” Raw panic surged through her and she shoved him away, he lost his balance for a second giving her a chance to scramble out of her room. “Dad!! Dad!!” But there was no answer and the intruder came up behind her shoving her down the stairs. She hit her head pretty hard on one of the steps but not enough to knock her out. She scurried across the floor on her knees until she got to her feet only to trip over something, someone. Nelly’s hand reached out to her discomfort trying to find out what it was she fell over. His body was still warm but has her hand slid over his chest she found the blood soaking through his shirt. “D..dad?” There was no answer and the intruder in her room was making their way down the stairs now. She got up quickly and went through the living room to the kitchen where she stumbled over her mother’s body. It was the same scenario, just more blood. “N-nel..” Her brother had been hiding in the pantry, he had been sleeping too when it happened and the intruder didn’t see him under the blankets on the floor. Nelson grabbed him and dragged him out of the pantry moving through the house as quietly and quickly as they could. “Come on Nelson I just wanna talk.” She knew that voice and the picture of the person it belonged to flashed before her eyes. It was the guy from across the street. Nelly managed to get them out of the house and they ran for Mary’s house, Nelly was prepared to bang on her door but when they got there it was open.. The open door filled her with dread and when they walked in Nelly had to cover her little brother’s eyes. The candles were still lit and flickering warmly and on the floor was mother and daughter. Quickly she moved her brother past them into another room where she instructed him to hide. Then she searched for something, anything she could use as a weapon. She picked up a wooden candle holder and waited for him to come. She had the advantage of surprise on him and popped out of a corner clunking him on the head, she hit him again too knocking the gun from his hand but the couple of hits didn’t bring him down, he was pretty strong. So to lead him away from her brother she ran and he chased her. He chased her outside of the house but reached her when they made it to the yard. He grabbed her by the hair, twisting his hand into the long strands and leading her by it. He was saying things, things that didn’t make sense to her. Telling her why he had to do, why he had to kill them. She didn’t care, she didn’t care about any of it. She tried to fight back but he was stronger. “Y-you let her go!” Eliot pointed the gun he dropped at him, but her poor sweet brother.. He didn’t know how to use a gun and neither did she. He let her go, shoving her to the ground as he neared her little brother. Nelly could hear herself screaming but it was almost like no one else could. Eliot couldn’t even pull the trigger. She tried, she got up and jumped on the man’s shoulders but all he had to do was throw her down. When she hit the ground this time the air was knocked out of her and that’s when the shot went off. What happened next was really more of a blur, she really thought she was going to die next but some how she managed to get the gun away from him and some how she was able to shoot him. Moments that seemed like hours passed afterwards, Nelly sat there on Mary’s porch with her brother dying her in arms. Then hours did pass and she was alone. She wanted to die too but there was no longer fairness in this world. The gun was empty now so she tucked it into her pants and dragged her brother back to her house. All the while, as the tears rolled down her cheeks saying how sorry she was as he put him back where he would have been sleeping. It was some time after that, that she left. She didn’t know what to do and she was in a state of shock. So she walked, and walked. Fires were breaking out and the further she went into the city, the further she went into chaos.