章節 1: Mel
I sprint across the paved road, dodging drunken bodies passed out on the ground. "Get back here!" I hear a male voice call out to me," I glance over my shoulder and see a group of four men charging straight at me. Not wanting to attract anymore attention, I slide into the dark alleyway. "C'mon baby," his heavy breathing mixing into his words, "why can't we just enjoy the party together?" The man sways back and forth, and his sword dangles dangerously loose from his hand. My quiet response triggers his anger issues as his body jerks forward to snatch my long silver hair. I gracefully glide past his arm and punch him straight in the jaw. The impact sends the drunk man tumbling into subordinates. I pull my white mask even higher past the bridge of my nose as two more men attempt to attack me. Without drawing my blade, I knock the two men unconscious leaving a teenage boy who appears to be the same age as me. Seeing his three superiors lying unconscious, the boy gives me a glance before running in the opposite direction.
Sighing, I continue my search for my friend. Even with the night as my cover and a mask covering most of my face, I always seem to catch the wrong attention. I shouldn't have let Anna explore the New Year's Eve festival by herself. The upcoming year marks 500 years since chaos first struck which must be true since this night couldn't get any more chaotic.
"Tch, disgusting," I mumble to myself as I pull out a black handkerchief and angrily wipe off the blood off my glove. I tuck the handkerchief back in my pocket and scale the side of a building. I jump from rooftop to rooftop letting the winter breeze brush past my face.
I finally spot Anna standing in front of a market stall at the very edge of the crowd. I take a seat letting my feet dangle from the rooftop and watch as Anna attempts to hand the woman some cash. The sudden sound of screams causes me to jerk my head towards the sound. People begin to run away from the center of town shoving people, including Anna, out of their way. I slide off the building in order to help Anna, but, in midair, an explosion goes off. Unable to find my balance, the explosion slams me into a building, my body crumbling to the ground. The sounds of screaming children quickly fades as it is replaced by a quiet yet loud ringing. My heart beat slams against my head as I try to focus my blurry sight. With a shaky breath and pain radiating in my right shoulder, I slowly try to stand up and drag my legs across the paved road. Trying not to blackout, I focus on the mission at hand. One by one, I start lifting up rubble ignoring the pain in my shoulder. A child's voice pierces through the smoke and fire calling me like a siren.
"Mom?" The young girl's voice calls out. I slowly turned my head towards the sound. My heart falls apart with empathy as I see a young girl on her knees in front of a rock. I slowly make my way over to her and notice the red pool of blood surrounding the base of the rock. I gently place my hand on the child's head, and her glistening eyes look up to me in fear.
I hand the girl a handkerchief to cover her mouth as a sign of good will and offer her my hand. She looks back at her mother one last time before allowing me to take her with me.
"Anna!" I shout, but with no reply. The little girl looks up at me and shouts for Anna as well.
Letting adrenaline fuel me, I continue to walk around shouting for her, yet the sounds of fire crackling, buildings falling, and horrifying screams drown my voice out. I notice a hand sticking out from a piece of rubble. Please don't let that be Anna. Please tell me that she isn't anywhere near the town but instead on her way home. Lifting up the rubble, I allow an inaudible scream to escape my lips. My hope for her to be safe quickly begins to fade, as Anna's light brown hair comes into view as well as the rest of her body. Instinctively, I quickly grab Anna's limp body and carefully place it over my left shoulder and quickly place the little girl on my hip.
I run through the burning town letting the smoke fill my lungs, the pain overwhelm my thoughts, and the fire touch my skin. Right as I'm about to begin my trek up the mountain, I notice a group standing away from the burning buildings. "May I leave her with you?" I ask nudging the girl to a woman standing alone.
The woman gladly takes the girl from me without saying anything. I give her a grateful nod before heading up the mountain.
Despite the darkness, I started weaving my way up the forest covered mountain jumping over logs and dodging trees. Making my way up the mountain, I hear the faint sound of rustling in the bushes. The sound becomes louder and louder until it is right next to me. Blindly, I throw three knives into the dense forest.
Flicking open the scabbard, picking up three knives with one hand, closing my eyes, listening to the sounds of the night, throwing the knives in the relative area of where the noise came from, the three knives make contact with the trees, and a high pitched scream escapes the trees. Sighing from relief, I push away the bushes and see my three knives pinning down three familiar yet terrified faces by their shirts.
"What are you doing here?" I ask sternly.
"Hey Mel," Derek chuckles uncomfortably. His deep voice moved with grace contrasting his
girly scream from earlier. "We just…"
"What happened to Anna!" Leo interrupts.
"She got caught up in the explosion," I say without letting my emotions interfere.
"Give her to me!" Leo yells like a child as he yanks Anna from my shoulder.
"Calm down Leo." Jae says just with a cold tone.
Leo responds, "Tch, whatever we need to take her to Tess."
I simply nod as a conformation. I join the group and continue up the dark mountain letting the wind brush past me. I close my eyes listening to the whistling of the wind. My enjoyment is quickly interrupted by the feeling of being watched. Jae is probably watching me. After all, he is the only one who can see clearly in the dark. It probably bothers him that he can't read me. The pain in my right shoulder begins to flare up disrupting my thoughts.
"We are here!" Leo calls out.
We run through the invisible barrier and into the house nearly breaking down the door. "Tess! Get the bloody hell over here!" Leo yells.
"What's all the *hic* racket about?" She asks with a beer bottle in hand.Tess glances at Anna's limp body in Leo's arms and urges to, "Take her to the infirmary."
Leo lays Anna down on the table, allowing us to evaluate her serious injuries. She has 3rd degree burns all over her back, and her legs are broken.
"Can you help her, Tess?" Derek asks softly.
"I will do what I can," Tess says, "Anna just started teaching me, so I have not had to deal with an injury this serious by myself."
"Well do something!" Leo yells at her.
They kept yelling back and forth, annoying me to the point of intervention. "Give her this," I say bluntly.
I watch as everyone analyzes the vile in my hand. "Anna has never taken the elixir before," I inform, "so it should be fine."
"Right!" Tess agrees, "The elixir should increase her healing speed."
"Give it to her now!" Leo yells again.
Tess takes the vile from me. I watch as she attempts to prepare the vial for injection, but her hands become sweaty and they start to shake. "I don't think I can do it," she admits.
"What do you mean you have to!" Leo yells at Tess.
Taking the vile from Tess, quickly preparing it for injection, sticking the needle into Anna's vein, I inject the elixir into Anna's system. Everyone stands in anticipation for Anna's recovery as I walk out of the room. Derek follows me and asks, "Aren't you going to stay and wait for Anna to wake up?"
"No." I state coldly without explaining my choice.
"Damn I hate her sometimes," I hear Leo mumble, "Anna is nothing but kind to her and Mel can't even give her the time of day."
"Don't say that," Derek responds, "She can just be a little emotionless sometimes."
I ignore their words and immediately go straight to my room. As soon as the door closes I allow my body to finally collapse from exhaustion and pain. My body immediately begins to try to force out the inhaled ash in my lungs causing me to almost vomit. However, thoughts of the little girl calms my body allowing me to receive some form of rest .
. . .
I watch as Mel walks away from us.
"What do you think Jae?" Leo asks me.
"Hm?" I hum.
"You can see better than any of us," Leo insists, "What do you think of Mel?"
"No one is emotionless," I state before walking back into the infirmary. I grab some bandages as well as different cleaning solutions. I walk back out passing Leo and Derek in the hallway, and head towards Mel's bedroom. I make my way up the stairs and to her room where I stand awkwardly before lightly knocking on the door. Mel peeks her head out from the other side of the door and looks me up and down. Her mask is still on and her silver hair is still tied neatly into a braided ponytail. Her violet eyes are daggers piercing into my soul. I notice a small flicker of worry and sadness peak above her walls, but it quickly disappears.
"I noticed you hurt your shoulder," I say, handing her the medical equipment.
Mel raises an eyebrow and takes what she needs. "Of course you did," she says.
Jae stood there for a moment staring into her eyes. I tried to look past the wall she built up, but it is too high for me to see over it.
Mel breaks the silence, "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," I quietly respond after she closed the door.
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票