He stumbled back, grunting, his hands clutching his chest as I tore the knife out in one swift motion. He collapsed, gurgling blood - gray blood, thick and unnatural. I stood there, above him, His blood eating away at the parts of my skin which it covered, burning, I ignored it, the pain, the burning, the way kanth looked at me, The horrible stench that polluted the air as his blood gushed out.
I didn't look away until I saw his final breath leave him, until his body went still. Dead.
I turned to Kanth.
The look on his face - horror, disgust, disbelief. He stared at the body. Then at me. "You killed him," he said. I didn't say a word, just stared at him. I killed him? I killed another oblivion?. "You killed the Bond mate of the king". He stated, his gaze eating away at me. Pain struck me, I saw the severe burns his blood was causing. I took the clean part of my cloak And rubbed his blood of off my skin.
"I had to" the words died before they could escape. I could do nothing but stare, at his body at the blood, the gray blood, blood that burns. my knees went numb I slumped to the ground, focusing my eyes on the torch flickering in the darkness. I could feel kanth blocking the door with the beds, flinching every time he saw the body, and me. "Fear kills all, I killed the fear."I murmured under my breath trying my best to control my nerves. This time I wasn't terrified because I killed him, I was terrified because I didn't know who I killed
"Seira, remember, don't be afraid because?" my brother said before I went on stage to present my project. "Fear kills all." I replied. "And what do you do?". He continued beaming, "I kill the fear". That's right now go set the stage on fire. He said with excitement.
I escape the repeating loop of memory I was stuck in. I turn to look at kanth my voice shaking, my hands trembling as I try hard to bite back tears,
"I killed the fear, Why am I still afraid?". I ask him. He doesn't reply he just stares at me, then looks away as he positions himself in one of the dark corners - away from me.
"He was going to kill you". I said, letting my tears fall, letting my voice shake. "Please tell me I did the right thing".
"Are you asking as an oblivion or a human?" He said in a low voice that echoed in the room, suffocating me. I just sat with my knees tucked in my arms, rocking back and forth on my hips. Staring at the torch, I did have a choice, that choice was to either die or kill. I did what I had to, to survive.
"Let's go, the sun has risen". Kanth said as light seeped in through tiny cracks, He got
up and opened the door. "Wait you can't go outside like that, they'll catch you the minute they see you." I said getting up on my feet. "What do you except me to do?, rip the damn cloak of his dead body and wear it?" He yelled in a muffled voice, as if scared. "Yes". I paused deciding my next words, "I didn't get you out of that cage just so you could go back in there again, and we both know they won't spare you not this time, you won't be worth their hassle."
I turned the reeking body around and took the black cloak off it and placed it on the broken bed, I cleaned the blood of it and gave it to kanth.
His eyes glistened with tears from possible disgust as he took the cloak from me and draped it around his body, I could see the way his hands trembled as he put the cloak on.
We went along the long hallways, blending in with the others, we stop as we reach a large door. Infront of it stood a girl with light crimson hair, the rest of her face covered by a hood her head bowed down , her eyes glue to the ground.
"Is she?" I began... " yeah, she's cillith" Kanth cut me off before I could finish.
"Cilith? I need to talk to you for a minute". Kanth whispered. She looked up and nodded to kanth after scanning her surroundings. She looked at me and her whole exprsession switched from being calm to absolutely terrified. " You're the one who escaped. Who burned the city of virela, the one who killed the blood heir." My face burned as she spoke my heart beat rose, and my body sweated vigorously.
How do they know? How?.
"What? is that true?. He said staring at me in shock. "Like hell it's true, there are rumors about her being the daughter of the lost queen. The whole of rialada is shook, demanding for the truth." Even the king is unnerved, grieving the loss of his son, his heir. "The lost queen?". I asked my head spinning. My mind practically about to explode. "We can't talk here follow me". she said leading us through a small hidden door, into a small room with a tiny window from which light shone inside the room. The room was empty, each footstep, each breath, echoing.
"Who are you" Cilith asked me eyeing as if I was a monster. "We'll fnd out soon enough, Now I'll be the one asking the questions." I said, locking eyes with cilith, my voice fierce. "Who was the lost queen, what happened to her, and what does the king want from me ?" I said in single breath. I was done being afraid. I was ready to face whatever would come at me next.
The queen her name was Karima, all of us adored her, worshipped her, she was the greatest of all, not a dime of cruelty was ever shown by her, only mercy. The king was her brother he challenged her to a battle to death, whoever won would take the throne, she was strong. But she was afraid, She vanished along with her child and consort. Rumors say her spouse was a human, that is why she fled to earth. When she left, a portal opened, one which led to the earth. The king ordered to capture any human that entered from that portal. And.....
She stopped, lips parted but silent, eyes brimming with the kind of truth that ruins people. "And?" I urged her to continue. And ordered to peel of their skins we experimented for years on how to look like one of them, we finally found out how to. It was by merging their brain, their skin with ours. "What do you mean by that?" kanth asked staring intensely at cilith. "You mean you killed hundreds of us, just to look like us?". "Not just to look like you - To destroy your kind, Put an end to the hunaam race - To take over the earth."
"The kings afraid i'd take over his world before he could over mine...." I said more to myself then the both of them. " And that is why he wants you dead, you did more damage to his empire than any of his own rebellions could, and that too in a single day." cilith said in a type of awe.
"Without even being half as powerful as him." Kanth continued.
"Why are you telling us all of this, you are one the oblivions, you should resent us like the rest of them do". I questioned meeting her emerald green eyes.
"Oblivions like me don't belong. We serve as defects. the ones meant to bow, not lead, not represent, we're not born with the powers they have, not born with the same color of eyes not born with the ability to control minds or crush bones. We're weak.
"We fall in the lowest category," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "The ones with green or blue eyes. We're the weakest. No mind control. No bone-crushing strength. Just obedience and silence."
She looked away, as if ashamed to even speak it aloud.
"Above us," she continued, "are the silver-eyed and the golden-eyed. They're stronger - faster, sharper, able to manipulate energy and bend light. They serve as commanders, enforcers, the ones who carry out the king's orders without question."
"Then come the black-eyed," Kanth added quietly. "The ones who walk like shadows. They can see through walls, move without sound, kill without touch. They're the king's assassins."
Cilith nodded. "But even they bow to the purple-eyed and the white-eyed. Those are the mind-breakers. They can crush bones with a glance, rewrite memories, control entire crowds with a whisper."
I felt my breath catch.
"And above them?" I asked.
Cilith hesitated. "The red-eyed. There's only ever one. The queen had them. Red eyes mean total power - destruction, control, death. One look, and the world bends. One command, and it obeys. She was the only one who ever had them. Until she vanished."