SHADOWS OF THE BLOODLINE

CHAPTER 8

We're in this together.

Rune

“I'll leave the five of you to decide what you want to do,” Aeris said, looking at the five of us one by one. His eyes particularly stopped in my direction like he had some kind of hope in me.

I wanted to laugh and tell him that he was wrong. But I was even too weak to do that. My attempts at standing up had failed up until that point. The only person who managed to grin somehow was Zayan. He couldn't stop staring at his fists.

“Three days,” Aeris said. Before I knew it, he had turned, with his cloak following him like a shadow. I couldn't stop the shudder that ran through my spine.

As I looked around the room, I knew that there was something connected between me and the other four teenagers in the room and me. We were obviously from broken homes. Something was missing in our lives. Was this magic supposed to make up for that? Was that why we were chosen? Because we had nothing to lose?

“What the fuck just happened?” Kaladin asked, but I could see his cheeks color pink. He was either humiliated because of what Aeris said, or he was just naturally shy. I shut my thoughts immediately. The last thing I wanted was any kind of curiosity.

“It's more than a training,” I finally spoke up in a whisper. “This is a revelation. A small insight into what our life is supposed to be like.”

Kaladin managed to prop himself up to his feet. “Are you in on this with him?” He asked, taking a step towards me. I could feel my jaw tighten. I wasn't about to do this with him.

Once he noticed all eyes on him, he took a step back, swiping his hand through his bloody nose.

“I don't know what to do,” he spoke up louder this time. “I just found out that my parents are kidnappers, and then I'm suddenly told that I have some kind of magic that I can't even control. Oh, have I mentioned the fact that our death was more than possible in this?”

You're not the only one going through something; I wanted to say, but I bit the words back, as I grabbed one of the boxes, finally forcing myself to my feet as I wiped the sweat on my top lip. I had to find a way to control this. I couldn't keep getting weak whenever I used the powers.

I had used it twice now, and the toll it had on me wasn't something that was pleasurable explaining.

“This is wrong,” Zayan spoke up, looking at the four of us like he expected us to agree with him immediately. “We don't have to stay here. You heard the man. He gave us a chance to decide.”

“The darkness is close,” Wilder said loud enough for all of us to hear. He had been acting weird ever since he used whatever power he had. I couldn't trust whatever he said. Not when he was a customer. He might have as well been high when he spoke.

Eilish took a step away from him, wrapping her arms around herself. I almost offered her my jacket. She was obviously withdrawn and had trouble sleeping. The dark circles underneath her eyes told me everything. What was her story too?

“So what?” Kaladin asked Zayan in a defiant tone. “You want us to just take ourselves out like none of this ever happened?”

“I dont give a fuck about what you think. I don't want to be here.”

“Guys…” I called out, but they weren't even listening to me. They were so close to each other, breathing in each other's faces so hard that I could feel it from where I was standing.

“Well, there's the door. Leave if you want.”

Zayan ran his hands through his hair. “You can't deny the fact that he attacked us under the oretex of having some kind of magic. He brought us here. All for what? So sacrifice ourselves for a world that doesn't give two bits about us.”

“You did have the magic, though,” Eilish whispered, looking at him.

He ignored her. “We have families that would lose if we die.”

“Didn't you hear him?” Wilder asked. “We would die either way. We should be blaming our ancestors from almost five hundred years ago, for getting involved in something like this.”

It would have been useless pouring out frustration on anyone else.

“Why don't you come out here and face us?!” Zayan asked, looking in the direction of where Aeris walked out. The silence that met our ears was deafening.

“Don't you guys want to learn how to control this thing?” Eilish asked, with her voice lower than a whisper.

We all knew the answer. It didn't matter if we answered or not.

I had been silent for too long. “It doesn't matter what we think. We were chosen. We're in this together.”

“And we don't have to stay!” Zayan argued again. “We can leave here and go back to our fucking lives. If you guys don't have anything to do, I have siblings to cater for. We can keep in touch to see who made it alive.”

I shook my head. There was nothing that he said that even made sense to me. “We can't leave,” I said weakly. “Whatever was looking for us has found us. Running away won't change anything. And everyone else in this room knows that it's the truth.”

As sionnas the words left my mouth, the light flickered, making me take a step back. We all exchanged glances. My fingertips went cold as a strange breeze blew in the room. The coolness was strange. The shadows were moving. Something was watching.

Somewhere in my head, I hoped that it was Aeris playing tricks. But the voice in my head told me that it wasn't.

Eilish had her hands at her side, and I couldn't ignore the flame that was starting to form.