下載應用程式
8.85% The Moon Goddess' Chosen / Chapter 54: Chapter Fifty Four

章節 54: Chapter Fifty Four

"Cole, how far can your ears pick sound if you focus?" Katie turned to Cole without sparing a second. She had finally stopped her rushed actions and looked to be in deep thought over what was going on. Cole was slower on the uptake. He had been able to recognize the voice on the speakers to be someone that he knew… soon enough, he was able to recognize it to be the boy who sometimes walked with Katie, the name, however, came later than he'd hoped. Kyle was like a shadow to him as of the three boys, he did not talk to Cole at all and the two had developed an awkward relationship that was restricted to greetings and nods.

"At this time, there is nothing I can't pick up on school grounds and a little into the forest," he replied, perking up his ears to try and pick up the sound. A half transformation had them getting longer and pointed, allowing him to borrow the added range of hearing that werewolves had in their wolf forms without having to fully shift.

"And there is no one in the area, huh. Figures, I guess he's talking through the speakers through a wireless connection that he established. What a pain! A rogue that had an education… Odd," she said.

"No, the school is empty. Hold on," Cole closed his eyes and focused, even more, waiting for that moment of silence. There was a bit of too much silence though. He managed to block his own heartbeat from the assortment of sounds that came into his ears. However, he found that he had to search for the second heartbeat that was of the person next to him. Katie's heartbeat, if only for a moment, seemed non-existent.

After waiting for nearly a second, a heavy beat sounded from her chest going dead-silent in the next moment and staying that way for what felt like three seconds. The rest of the sounds did not cause any alarm to go off in his mind. Nature was undisturbed in the entire school and the immediate forest that surrounded parts of it that weren't the road leading back into town, "All I can hear is your heartbeat slowing down incredibly and nothing else. Are you fine?"

"Yes, I did that to reduce the distractions so that you could focus on something else. Didn't it help?" she asked as though what she had just said meant nothing at all.

"That's creepy. It's more of a distraction than a normal heartbeat that I can isolate," he retorted.

"Oh sorry, didn't think of it that way. That rocket would have been fun to see," she said, rubbing her temples.

"Oh, yeah, though it doesn't look like a rocket project. More like something educational to show how much information on space that has been gathered by the student presenting it. There is nothing impressive though. Most of it just looks like those boring lessons of the solar system that I was forced to sit through in school," he groaned, looking at the poster.

"Yeah, that's true. I wonder what trigger was used to know that we'd reached this place," Katie mused, "Wait, you paid attention in your science class?"

"What are you trying to insinuate by that?" he asked, "Of course, I pay attention in science class. Werewolves also have dreams beyond the pack, you know."

"That's very hard to imagine. With all the biology going on in those bodies, not to mention a certain goddess who's constantly watching, I find it so hard for the

"You've been irritable today. Did my display displease you that much?" Katie asked. She'd been planning on keeping that to herself, but it was becoming excessive.

"No, it's not you. It has nothing to do with you," Cole began to walk heading for the exit, calling for Katie to walk with him with a nod. "Earlier, after you left the Hunter's Agency, something else happened."

"You caught that scent again?" Katie asked.

"Yes, I did. And this time someone stopped me from following it, someone who I didn't expect to do so. It all didn't make sense at all. It's been bothering me ever since. I was told that the next I was to catch that scent, I'd find her. I don't think I should be talking to you about someone else though. It's quite weird…"

"No, it's fine… if it helps you feel better, then go for it. Consider me a therapist," she joked.

"Okay, Dr Chase… I've chased her down a lot that I feel like I don't want to find her anymore. It's irritating," he huffed.

"Oh my… that bad, huh… Did they also tell you that you will find them sooner than you might expect," she told him seeking his eyes.

"Yeah, I was told… wait, how would you know that?" it was Cole's turn to get suspicious.

"Just a hunch… I'm still shocked that my best friend turned out to be Ash's killer," Katie said lightly. Silence took over them when she said that. She had to look back when she noticed he was standing still.

"What did you say?"

"Kyle, my best friend, always has his head in books…" she repeated.

"He's a human. How am I supposed to believe that?" Cole raised his voice. He had his hand balled into a fist. 'Oh, I mentioned Ash. I guess that realisation hadn't gotten to him yet.'

"So, you hadn't realised it… that the person I was hunting this whole time was Ash's killer or did you think I was simply looking for one more rogue," she asked.

"I know what you were hunting, but how did you turn on your best friend so quickly?" he said, "You sound so sure that he's the killer almost as if it's obvious."

'Cole, your words, they arouse so much anger in me. Why do you have to make it look like that?' Katie felt like telling the Royal before her. His eyes shone a brilliant bright blue; his face was one of rage. Mixed emotions were clear in them as he looked at her. He was confused, angry, bewildered, murderous and yet hesitant, all this he showed on his face clearly. Katie walked up to the Royal until they were too close for comfort.

"The difference between the two of us is a small one hidden behind our ability to conceal our emotions. If I was like you, Kyle would be on the brink of death by now, but I can't rush to that conclusion just yet. He was my best friend," she said.

"How are you so calm about this? Ash is not coming back and you know who killed him. Why do you stay so calm like you didn't just find out very important information?" he said.

Katie put her hand around Cole's neck and brought him down so that she could listen to her more clearly, "Want to know something? Rogues are afraid of me," she said.

"What's that supposed to…"

"The only way Kyle would have the courage to do what he did and admit he was the killer was if he had already gotten far away and was safe in a hidden location. If he was still in Brigadia, I'd know it… in my gut. Kyle Dwyer is miles away from here…" she said, letting go of him and walking on. Cole remained transfixed to the spot. There was no doubt about it, Katie was livid… Cole couldn't tell how he hadn't noticed it earlier, her heartbeat itself was unstable as it kept speeding up and slowing down...

....................................

Miles away from the town of Brigadia, deep in the forest that surrounded the remote town, a forest so thick that one would not think of staying there. The place was referred to as no man's land for its uncertainties. In a world like this, forests were used as country and town borders and no one was allowed to venture into forests that were out of towns. It was obvious that rogues could use places such as these as hideouts and as a result, hunters usually set out expeditions to sweep those parts and make sure there were no rogues within a certain radius from the settlement they were meant to protect.

Roads through these parts were built wide to reduce unnecessary accidents. The added employment of a hunter helpline for all such highways was another measure that was put in place to help broken down vehicles in need. Each travelling car was required to have a Hunter phonebook with a list of helplines for all respective highways. The war was clear once one was out of the safe haven of a well-protected town. The Rogue King had the whole world trembling just because of his ruthless force.

Deep within the forest, five men sat around a campfire gathering around it for warmth. The night was especially cold and the fire was dwindling in the wind. There was wood, but caution dictated that they would keep the fire minimum to avoid raising suspicion. It would have been easier to simply shift and have their fur act like a blanket, but that would increase the range of their scents and even help the wind carry it further.

A lot of measures had been put up for these kinds of people that didn't want to get caught and lacked the manpower to fend off an attack. The five men were rogues that had been stationed at this outpost to pick up someone.

"Just who is it anyway? The guy we've come to pick," one of the men asked.

"Don't worry about that. He's still a kid… about to turn eighteen too," another replied.

"Wait, so he's one of those spies that were dispatched into this region seven years ago?" the man asked.

"Not really, he is more special. He was dispatched nine years ago and has been in hiding ever since. The Rogue king says he's probably more important than all of us present here combined. To the King, he's the most important asset that the rogues have…" the man said. His voice was rough and he radiated power that dwarfed that of the other four. He was not an ordinary werewolf and was rather… an alpha that had been given power by the Rogue king himself.


章節 55: Chapter Fifty Five

The men continued to wait in the cold windy weather. A wooden cabin, covered in trees and mud to make it look more like an anthill in the forest housed their supplies and sleeping quarters, along with one other package that they'd been holding as part of the boy's plans. "Hey, Chad, do you think the package in there will last longer?"

"Yeah, that one's resilient… not going anywhere in my opinion. Just don't let your guard down," the alpha replied. "What I'm wondering is what's taking that brat so long to get here…"

"Well, if he's survived this long in the place they call the residence of the Rogue killer, then I don't see what the fuss is all about. He'll definitely get here," another said.

"I've heard these rumours about this self-proclaimed Rogue killer. I don't think there is a hunter that's deserving of such a name. Where did it come from?" another asked. This man sounded cocky and spoke with a passive tone that undermined the words of his comrade.

"So you haven't heard the stories then. They should have reached you in your camp. I know you were only recently transferred, but haven't you heard of the Rogue killer yet, Demitri?" Chad asked him.

"I've rumours and folktales of a blur that takes the life of all those that see it and that there is a designated distance from the town that triggers its awakening. I hear of all this, and yet I wonder how that information came to the rogues when there was never a survivor. It all doesn't sound right to me," Demitri boasted.

"Watch your words, Demitri. They might just be your last. The information, as well as the naming of the Rogue killer, was delivered by the same spy that we are waiting on. He has been able to get the closest look at the Rogue killer. Rumour has it that he was so good at keeping his cover that he was even able to speak to the abomination without being discovered. We all know of the sharp instincts that hunters possess. What I want to know is how that boy got past those defences and stayed safe for nine years without being detected," Chad said.

"You all accepted the rumours from a spy who doesn't know how to get his stories right. What a bunch of wimps! I don't think I'd ever let myself get taken out by a hunter if I was on a stealth mission. From what I heard, the Chase family is the only family with sharp enough instincts to detect a person on such a mission and even so, many have been known to sneak past them. My skills lie in that category. I just don't see what the fuss is about," he said.

"Maybe when the boy gets here, you will hear the story directly from him," Chad said.

"The boy is already here…" a rushed voice sounded. The boy collapsed immediately he was in sight of the campfire, breathing heavily and dropping his rucksack to the ground. He shivered from the cold and gripped his bag searching for something.

"Took you long enough…"

"He doesn't smell like a werewolf. Were we waiting on a human?" Demitri asked.

"No, part of why he went past the Rogue killer undetected is because he had his wolf suppressed. All the spies do so in order to blend in with the human population and gather intel on the werewolves and hunters," Chad said, ordering another to bring something to cover the thin boy. The boy continued to search through his bag until he pulled out an orange bottle. A single rattling sound came from it indicating it contained a single item.

The boy threw the bottle to the ground and frantically searched the bag for something else, "Please be in here… I'll be screwed if you aren't…"

"What are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for my pills. If that medication wears off, I'll shift before we even get to the werewolf king," the boy said.

"Where did you leave them so that I can get them for you?" the boy stopped checking through the bag for a moment, his shivers leaving his body. The rest of the men present had also gone silent on hearing the suggestion. The boy raised his head to meet Demitri's eyes.

"That would be the craziest things I've heard all day and trust me, I've heard crazy things today," the boy said before realising Demitri was actually serious, "Wait, you're serious. Do you realise that I don't have my werewolf abilities, I'm thin as a twig with no athletic abilities and yet I ran here straight from the town at my top speed with no intention of stopping for a rest?"

"Well, considering you're as thin as a twig. There is probably no way you could have devised survived if you were discovered," Demitri replied.

The boy was amused by the man's level of arrogance… or was it stupidity? He looked around and noticed the others did not say a word and didn't look like they were going to say something. That confirmed his suspicions, Demitri did not know what he was talking about and was not going to believe anyone. This time the boy got up and dusted himself… he was finally breathing normally again, though his body had regained a bit of the shivering from the cold. The man that had been sent into the cabin came back with a towel which he placed on the boy's shoulders to help combat the weather.

The boy walked up to Demitri and looked him straight in the eye, "Have you heard of the Rogue killer?"

"I've heard that it's a rumour that you've made up to keep rogues scared of this place," Demitri said. The boy remained quiet for a moment before falling to the ground in laughter. The rest laughed along with him although not as loud as he did. Chad remained quiet waiting for the boy to regain his composure. When it looked as though that was not about to happen, he spoke up.

"Kyle, get yourself together and tell the man," he said.

"Yes, yes, it was just too hilarious…" Kyle chuckled before sitting up, cosying up to the fire, "Anyway, since I got into my position as the Head spy of this remote town, I have never been able to give a well-informed description of the Rogue killer because of the way the communications were always time-sensitive. So you will probably be the first person that will be hearing this story in the way that I am going to narrate it," Kyle said. The rest took seats on the ground around the campfire to listen to the tales of the Rogue killer.

"This must be good…" Demitri commented.

"Nine years ago… the Rogue King received intel that something that was of great value had been taken to this village for safekeeping. I was not given all the details to avoid information from leaking out just in case I was to be discovered as you know how the Rogue king uses his spies. I was, however, the first spy to be sent to this region and was immediately in charge of all the others that were sent here. I watched my target grow and gave constant reports. At first, the Rogue king was reluctant to take action and thought it best to leave the child to grow up and kill them when they least expected it. When security around the child was much easier to get past. However, he never thought she'd become what she is today," he said.

"She…" Demitri chuckled, "The Rogue killer is a woman… I feel safe already." This seemed to amuse him so much… well, why wouldn't it? To the rogues, women were considered weak and it was impossible for any of them to attain the level of power that men were capable of and as such, they were treated as breeders.

"Will you let me finish the story then? Perhaps you will find it less scary now that the fact of her gender makes you feel so safe and powerful," Kyle replied.

"Oh, please go on…" It was at that moment that Kyle's motivation to save this particular rogue diminished and he continued the story, cautiously leaving out parts that would have, without a doubt, scared him witless.

"When the Rogue King realised the girl had become more powerful than he anticipated, he sent rogues on stealth missions to snuff her out while she was still young. I would sit in school waiting for the news of rogues found in the forest, but not once did I hear such a thing. There was no proof that the rogue king had gone through with his words... that was until I contacted him on the matter. His answer scared me… He'd been sending parties of rogues and they weren't returning. It wasn't making sense where it was that the rogues were vanishing from.

Well, that was before I carried out my own investigation. No one… not even the Director of the Hunter agency or her parents themselves knew about it. Well, at first that is. Every single rogue that got in within a mile radius to the town would be killed, by none other than the Rogue killer. By the time we started wondering what was going on, we had lost over fifty rogues at the hands of a single person. It soon became apparent that unless a spy was sent to infiltrate this region, there was no way a rogue could get in."

"Well, can I ask something?"

"Go right ahead," Kyle replied. One of the rogues in their small circle retreated to the cabin and came back with a kettle which he set above the fire using a structure that he'd made from wood to suspend the kettle in the air above the fire by its handle almost like an adaptation of a rotisserie.

"Have you ever seen the Rogue killer in action?" he was asked.

"I thought I wouldn't get to see it and only continued to report the information I was receiving. That was… until we were ordered to shake things up. The rogue king was getting desperate and wanted the girl dead… the Rogue Killer. I don't know why… so he asked us to create a diversion and try to throw her off her game. Things got interesting when we tried to use the prisoner to our advantage. I watched each of them get taken down. It was quite futile to send untrained rogues at that age into an attack," he continued.

"Nothing you've told me is cause for alarm… so I'll ask again, where did you leave your medicine?" with that said, Kyle directed Demitri, the rest staying perfectly quiet about this course of action.

"If I don't return by midnight tomorrow, then leave without me," he said before starting his run in human form, his steps barely audible as he did. This already proved how skilled he was as his scent would have been hard for the royals to pick up, but Kyle knew that's not what would have him caught. It was the same reason why he'd run from that town at top speed and made sure he was miles away before checking on whether she had triggered his trap yet.


Load failed, please RETRY

禮物

禮品 -- 收到的禮物

    每周推薦票狀態

    批量訂閱

    目錄

    顯示選項

    背景

    EoMt的

    大小

    章評

    寫檢討 閱讀狀態: C54
    無法發佈。請再試一次
    • 寫作品質
    • 更新的穩定性
    • 故事發展
    • 人物形象設計
    • 世界背景

    總分 0.0

    評論發佈成功! 閱讀更多評論
    用推薦票投票
    Rank 200+ 推薦票榜
    Stone 0 推薦票
    舉報不當內容
    錯誤提示

    舉報暴力內容

    段落註釋

    登錄

    tip 段落評論

    段落註釋功能現已上線!將滑鼠移到任何段落上,然後按下圖示以添加您的評論。

    此外,您可以隨時在「設置」 中將其關閉/ 打開。

    明白了