Chereads / Rise of Solaris' Angel / Chapter 9 - The Strange Phenomenon

Chapter 9 - The Strange Phenomenon

Lily looked at the sexy body of the headmistress but for some strange reason, Lily couldn't take her eyes away until Edith came forward and snapped her fingers infront of her, disrupting her view for a moment and releasing her from the strange phenomenon.

Looking up, she saw Edith looking at her with pity, "Next time don't even glance at her body. Countless men and women have already fallen for her body me included, don't be the next one." She said warily to which the head-mistress only gave a childish pout, "C'mon Edith! Don't mess it up for me! I really like her!" she declared and again for some strange reason, the word 'like her' made Lily blush like a ripe tomato.

"A-anyway, headmistress can you please answer my question?" asked Lily, carefully placing her vision a little away from her and not directly onto her face or body.

"Hmm…" the headmistress took a light puff from the thick cigar which she was holding and blew a large cloud of smoke. She looked straight at Lily and said in a quite mature tone, "Say Lily, you must've been curious as to why we've suddenly increased our activity to such tremendous levels and throwing discounts like confetti on even the poorer and less … opportune targets?"

"Y-yes," she answered but the headmistress didn't seem to mind it and continued, "You must've been curious, I know and the reason for it is quite simple, we're going to leave Lexington soon."

"L-leave Lexington?!!" cried Lily shocked. "But why? The business is so prosperous and e-even though this e-event is a little strange but increasing our rates back a little slowly won't harm our prestige much." Lily concluded with a bit of hesitation.

The headmistress shook her head and replied, "If it was for prestige, I would've left it for destiny to take its course but it isn't destiny that is doing its bids here. It is will. Will of humans, you understand. Well, I won't go into the details of it because it is only reserved for the most senior standing ladies."

"S-so, why am I here, headmistress?" Lily asked a little scared.

The headmistress smiled, sensing the fright oozing out of her, "Don't be scared child." She said in a strangely maternal and mature voice, quite different from her previous child-like voice. She stepped down from her and walked gracefully towards Lily, sidestepping the unconscious men.

For Lily though, it was a whole different feeling though. She felt the air grow thicker around her and her breathing started becoming more and more ragged the more the headmistress came closer. By the time the headmistress was standing infront of her, the invisible and intangible pressure that was encompassing Lily dropped her to the knee and when she looked up, she saw two bright purple demonic eyes looking down on her with visible lust. A large, evil grin surfaced on her face.

"Tell me Lily, do you seek power greater than a human's? Do you seek the authority to slave around men and women and stand above them like the gods and devils? Do you want to protect yourself from the incoming slaughter that is about to paint the city of Lexington in red and orange? Do you wish to change your destiny, shatter your shackles forged by the Gods to serve these pitiful men? Say yes and you will join us. Say no and you will forget everything that has happened until now and will continue onto the path of destruction that the Gods have planned for you."

Lily looked dumbly for a few moments, not agreeing or disagreeing. Instead, a defiant look surfaced on her face and she looked resolutely back at the head-mistress. "Will I be able to protect my family from this calamity you spoke of?"

"… yes." Replied the headmistress without any emotion.

Lily sighed when she heard it before fisting her hand tightly and looking up at her with resolve and determination, "If it is for my family, I will agree to anything."

The smile on the head-mistress's face widened and she said in a satisfied tone, "Welcome. To the Cult of Succubae."

Aiden's POV

The night of my birthday went fabulously well. My brother went and bought half a dozen or so brown rabbits from a local vendor and made the most awesome barbeque kebabs ever. It was my first time eating it for sure but even then, I will give it a 10/10. He added some spices to make it extra hot and a little lime. Along with that, he bought a bottle of wine, of course not for us but for dad. Like I said, in the whole family, it is only he who truly thinks of father.

Well, he did try a few sips of it and even served me a highly diluted version of the wine so I don't mind that he is wasting it on father. William on the other hand sneakily tried to drink the wine only to be beaten black and blue by both of us.

Damn! How dare he try to drink alcohol before I do! Blasphemy!!!

Anyway, tired and exhausted, I went to my attic room to sleep only to have the little pest William follow me. Usually, William would sleep with mother if father didn't come home or Jovian if he did, but today he chose me. Well, who am I to reject a punching bag for a side-pillow.

With that thought, I let him sleep with me only find it that he was way bad at sleeping than I had previously imagined and therefore, before I knew it, I had two scrawny legs right above my face.

"Get your fucking legs outta ma face!!!!!!"

3rd person POV

It was 4 in the morning and the whole of Lexington was covered by darkness and the winter mist. The slum area where Aiden and his family lived was quiet and so was their house too. In the attic though, there was a whole different phenomenon.

The two brothers William and Aiden were sleeping soundly in their makeshift bed. It was a straw bed made for one but there was no problem fitting two scrawny kids. In fact, they fit perfectly together like yin and yang. How? Simple, because beside Aiden's face was William's feet and vice-versa.

And other than their lying position, there was definitely, the snoring. The loud nasal sound of the two brothers filled the room in a perpetual ringing sound and by god, if the windows weren't closed tight such that not even a single molecule of air could pass through it, the whole neighborhood would've come to their house with pickaxe and pitchforks. After all only demons could make such snoring sounds.

Initially, other than their snoring the only thing that defined the room was its pitch-black darkness but as time went on, light seeped through the creeks and cracks of the roof and into the attic, lighting it up. It was a peaceful sight but all of a sudden, a strange phenomenon started to occur.

A strange but quite distinctive black gaseous substance started to ooze out from the skin and pores of Aiden. The black substance, initially miniscule and almost invisible started to coagulate and form larger drops but still was small from a human's perspective.

These perfectly round and pitch-black drops started to slowly float up like gravity had no impact on them. At first ten drops coagulate, then hundreds and then thousands and it all formed until a thin but large black cloud floated right above Aiden.

The swiveled for a while like a slime would before rushing towards one corner of the room with almost light-like speed. It seemed as if the 'shadow' cloud was inspecting the room before finally coming back above Aiden. The 'shadow cloud' revolved around Aiden for a few times before a strange phenomenon took place. From the 'shadow' cloud all of a sudden, a face started to carve out. The face was an exact 3D imitation of Aiden, having the same hair, the same ears and face except all of it was pitch-black.

The face neared Aiden's own face and stopped a few centimeters above his. By now, for some unknown reason Aiden was sweating a lot and looked like he was in pain. But of course, the shadowy figure wasn't interested.

The eyes of the 'shadow' face quivered for a while before snapping open, revealing two bright ruby-like red eyes. The demonic red eyes stared at Aiden for a moment, a grin surfacing on its face before opening its thin mouth. With its shadowy body two soundless words came out from its shadowy mouth. "Wake up!!"

"Hah!!" Aiden cried as he woke up from his sleep, sweat trickling down his forehead like waterfall and this made him extra chilly. Grabbing a piece of dirty cloth, he rubbed his face and neck, shivering a little but not due to cold.

'What the hell was that dream?' he thought. He closed his eyes and tried to recall every single details of the dream, the shadowy cloud, the speed, the face and definitely the eyes but strangely the more he thought about the dream the more it faded away from his memory. Shaking his head in disappointment, he was about to go back to sleep when a sudden sound alerted him.

'Clang!!!'

'!!!' he sat straight alert. 'the sound came from the kitchen,' he deduced and without a single thought, he jumped down the bed, knocking the sleeping beauty beside him, garnering his curses on the way and rushed down from the attic to the kitchen.

Entering into the kitchen he saw the familiar figure of his mother, wearing an apron and cooking. It had been almost three days since he saw his mother and for a moment his eyes watered and he jumped towards her, clutching her in his hug. "Motherrrr!!!!"

"Ah!" Lily cried at the surprise ambush and looking down she saw Aiden hugging her leg intently. "Aiden, why are you up so early? Didn't Jovian say that today there would be no practice?" she asked a little surprised.

"M-my sleep was broken and I heard—" Aiden said as he looked up but then he stopped midway. A pair of deep-blue almost purple eyes with a sharp glint stared at him. Unconsciously he stepped back a little in what seemed to be fright.

Looking at Aiden's astonished face, a sudden realization hit Lily and she immediately moved her head away.

"Dear, mother is cooking right now, so can you please come a little later," she said in a sweet and gentle motherly voice but Aiden stood there stupefied. He stood there silently as if expecting something but after sometime he opened his mouth and said the only words he could utter.

"Mother, are you okay?"

"Wha—" Lily cried shocked and turned around only to see large and round tear drops forming in his eyes.

"I-I know w-what you do for a living, mother. I don't hate you. Sniff! But please, if you're getting hurt because of the job, then please quit it! I-sniff-and William promise that once we become capable, we will work harder than usual to earn loads and loads of money. So please don't sacrifice yourself anymore. Sniff. Sniff." At the end of his sentence, he was sobbing like a little 5-year-old he was.

Seeing him, Lily couldn't help but smile gently. She kneeled down to his height and pulled him closer to herself and hugged him warmly. And said in her calm, motherly tone, "My dear little child. I'm not hurt and both you and William are far too young to worry about me. Play and laugh as much as you want. This is the only time you can." Saying that, she stood up and rubbed his head warmly.

Hearing her words, Aiden's crying stopped for a moment and he asked in an expectant tone, "T-then you will leave this line of job when we become older and earn loads? I-I don't want to see you being tossed from one man to another like a piece of doll. I-I can't bear it!!" he said, anger clear in his tone.

Lily smiled and replied calmly, "Like I said, you're too young to worry about me. And don't worry, I won't let myself be played by those filthy men. After all, now I've my own family protecting me!"

"Family?" asked Aiden a little confused but Lily didn't clear his doubt completely. She simply shook her head and turned back to cooking, leaving Aiden in a bind. He stood there patiently for a long time but Lily was adamant on not answering him. Feeling dejected he turned and headed back to his attic.

"Don't worry bro." all of a sudden, a little squeaky voice shook Aiden. Looking above he saw William sitting on the stairs with his head held on his palms. He gave Aiden a sorry look and said, "Don't worry about mother bro, she is as tough as a bull. No man can break her."

"H-how did you…" he said shocked to which William replied with a shrug, "C'mon bro, even you will wake up if you're thrown down the bed by a cheetah on drugs."

"Cheetah on drugs…" Aiden cried confused before it hit him. His gaping mouth closed down and was replaced by an evil grin. "C'mere you little twit!"

"What?! Nonononononoooo-eeeee"

Bam!

"How dare you punch your brother?"

"I'm sorry! I'm so so sorryyy!!"

"Heh! Sorry won't save you rat! Give me that arm!!"

"P-p-please! Stop! Stop! Human arms don't bend that way, BROTHERRRR!!! AHHHH!!!"

"BOTH OF YOU QUIT YOUR FIGHTING AND GO BACK TO SLEEP!!"

""Yes mother, at once!""