Twisted Dawn - 4. Déj

The pain that tore through me was even worse than when I was burned to death. No amount of meditation or indifference could even begin to relax my body. I heard an explosion close by and felt an enormous surge of power overtake me. As the power grew I started to float completely free of the hook. I could feel the stares of everyone in the room as it felt like my skin was being ripped off. As abruptly as it started it ended and I was left floating in place with my screams still filling the chamber.

I fell to the stone floor and made no effort to move. I had been laying there for a while when I heard Ashley scream out my name. I looked up at him and could see the worry etched all over his face. “I’m fine “, I managed to stammer but the voice that issued was no longer as it was. I waited a few more minutes and then stood slowly. As I rose to my full height I felt many of the others became aware of my presence. I took all of three steps towards Ashley and Mathias before I was thrown back and held against the wall of the chamber. My gaze shifted slowly through the new arrivals as they scrutinized and studied the three of us.

As their curious study waned, they grabbed Mathias and Ashley, and left me alone in the chamber after bolting the door. Still pinned to the wall, I felt as if my anger had settled itself onto me like a second skin. With one thought, I heard a strangled cry and the hold on me was instantly gone. I walked to the door and place my hand upon it. I could sense all life and magic milling around within the building. Pulling my hand back barely an inch, I thought move, and the door crumpled and was violently ripped from its hinges. Looking over my shoulder I stepped out of the room and began walking towards the highest concentration of gathered power.

When I entered the main chamber, every eye turned at once to face me. With a scowl firmly planted onto my face I walked resolutely towards the platform in the center of the room upon which the two most important people to me were forced to kneel. Stopping just short of the edge of the dais, I looked at the figures gathered above me and asked them what was the meaning of this.

As I finished my question, I felt a mind trying to force entrance into my own. Loosening the guards I had in place, I allowed the mind to enter, and then slammed my barriers closed right behind it. I looked up towards the one I assumed was their leader and demanded an explanation, letting them know I would not hesitate to destroy another of their numbers minds.

The figure stood there for some time watching me and giving fluttering passes over my mind before they started speaking. As far as I got into the explanation was that they were called Unown, cursed citizens from the past who were all killed and that they needed me to go back. I was ready to intently listen to this garbage when the sound of the voice began to sound very familiar to me.

Since the leader was wearing a hooded cloak, I couldn’t properly see their face but that did not stop me from trying. I twisted left and right trying to see under that hood only to be met with the same glimmer made by Auric. As I grew tired of this game we had now begun I destroyed the mind I held captive after pulling the information from it and called out mom.

Almost at once the dialogue stopped as the hooded figure cocked their head sideways and their glimmer faltered for just the tiniest fraction of a second. Completely sure by now that this was my mother I raced up the stairs onto the platform and attempted to pull her into a hug, but as I got within mere inches of her I was seized and thrown back well away from her into the corner of the room. Pulling myself upright, I could feel the glow from my eyes become violently bright as I proceeded to walk back towards the center of the room. I annihilated any person whose mind I felt get close enough for even a friendly nudge as I finally ascended the stairs of the platform once more.

As I came close I once again felt the pull from whoever had thrown me last time. As I felt the motion begin I yanked back from my own end of the connection and came face to face with Auric. Explain yourself I demanded once he turned to face me. Before he could begin to talk he was engulfed in flames and disintegrated to nothing but ash right in front of me. Looking up, I noticed that their leader, my mother’s hood was lowered and she was glaring at me with a look I thought only my father could master.

As she glared at me she pointed behind her and Ashley and Mathias slowly rose into the air and began to spin. She brought her hand around and they followed course as well until they floated directly next to her as she screamed out that my only purpose here was to give her new life. I began to walk forward, and as she saw my movement snapped her hand closed making a fist. At once both of my friends began to cry out, and I abruptly stopped walking. Now leveling her with a glare of my own, I slowly raised both of my hands with the palms facing each other and held them positioned directly in front of my heart. I looked back to see her staring at me quizzically, and told her she would let them go or I would eliminate the Unown one by one starting with her.

After issuing my ultimatum, I continued to level my glare at her as I began powering up for a spell I had ripped from within her mind. As she watched my hands fill with the dark green energy, her glare disappeared and became a worried mask as she released both Ashley and Mathias, and slowly backed away from them. I quickly powered down and went to check on both of them, and then afterwards moved to stand directly in the center of the platform.

As her glare once again gained momentum, I looked to her and told her this would be the last time we saw each other, and I pulled my two friends closer to myself as I opened a portal around us. As the portal opened I just barely heard my mother shout out a sentence that sounded like say hi to your sister as Mathias asked where the portal led. After assuring them both the portal led back to Centennial in the land of the living. As we began to blink out of the Clearing, I looked up one last time, and saw my mother smile at us and wave goodbye.

The last coherent thought I received from within the clearing was of someone thinking the meeting went exactly as planned and responding to someone demanding Erin be brought to the platform. As I received that thought I tried to reverse the teleportation but we were too far gone to reverse the portal. Now that I knew they had Erin and a definite way to come back, I began to feel particularly murderous to all Unown as well as the townspeople I knew could be the only ones responsible for Erin ending up there. As the portal opened onto the front driveway leading to Centennial High, my anger got away from me and three people whom I recognized from being in the halls when we were burned to death exploded in clouds of red mist.

I looked myself over one last time noticing now that my entire eye was black, with a red and green symbol I had seen once before, and decided I might as well prepare a welcome for mommy dearest. That is, right after I pay a visit to my old pal Martin and his family. Turning to walk away from the pools of former classmates I noticed that both Ashley and Mathias’ eyes changed as well and now were very similar to my own. I flashed a maniacal smile at the both of them as in the distance a large rumble was felt when an explosion ripped through many of the buildings surrounding us. Turning to face forward once more, I was delighted to see the smile returned as we began to walk down the middle of the street.