Jackson
The coppery tang of blood filled his mouth, his vision dimmed and yet his heart beat faster than frenzied drums, through the blur he saw as she crawled towards him, bloodied, battered but yet she was determined, determined to reach him.
"Mom" he called out weakly, barely able to stretch out his arms towards her "Mom''
The tears fell from him and just as she was within reach, she was suddenly yanked away
"Son" She cried out "My son!"
The man with wings smiled at her, blood staining his perfect features.
"Tots morireu!" He bellowed in an outworldly voice "Tu, el teu engendrat i tota la resta!"
Time stilled for a moment just enough for her to whisper 'I love you' one last time as the man yanked her up before proceeding to snap her neck with a resounding snap! and then she dropped limp onto the floor and the creature began approaching him.
Pain swept through him as the creature picked him up rather roughly, he bellowed a strange epithet in a foreign language, he shut his eyes in fear and pain expecting the same fate as his mother, but it never came
"Open eyes" The creature spoke in an ethereal voice
The command alone forced his eyes opened and he found himself staring at a beastly creature
"You'll be our messenger" he said, his black eyes burning embers "Tell them, tell your world that we have come to take it!"
With that it's face morphed into something more beast than human and it's foot came crashing down on his mother's head
"Mother!" Jackson yelled, spurting and coughing up blood and phlegm on the beastly creature
With a smile that burned itself into his head, the creature tossed him aside like a ragdoll and he landed roughly with a resounding thud as his head met with a tree
"Mother" Six year old Jackson whispered before the darkness took him away
††
"MOTHER!!!" He cried out
His eyes sprang open, her name still playing on his lips and his eyes glistening with unshed tears.
"Are you alright?" Came a raspy baritone voice "Do you hurt anywhere?"
His vision cleared up rather rapidly and a man who looked well into his mid thirties stared at him with big brown eyes whilst brandishing a rifle.
"Almost took a shot at you boy" he said extending a hand to him "What are you doing laying around these parts?"
The question seemed to trigger his memory and the previous events came flooding back into his mind, instantly wide eyed and alert he jumped off the floor, his eyes darting and frantically searching for signs of the man
"Where's he?!" He barked "Where is he?!"
"Where's who kiddo?" The hunting man asked rather confused
"The man with the...." His words faded back into his mouth, he knew what happened the last time he'd mentioned murderous people with wings and this time he made sure he kept his mouth shut
The man eyed him with vague suspicion before clamping a hand across his shoulders
"I reckon you darn well hit your head good" he said "There's no one here just us, you should go get some rest"
He didn't say a word, but instead he turned simply and began making his way back to the civilization.
"Need any help getting back to town?!" the man hollered after him
"No!" came his angered reply
The walk through the woods seemed to be putting things into perspective and he made it out just as dusk began to approach, he'd begun to take in the man's words when he realized that although his clothes were seemingly devoid of blood, there were thin scars that laid on either side of his torso almost untraceable but certainly there.
Something had happened there and it would seem that someone had gone quite a ways to keep it under.
He got home soon enough, if he could the rundown little hellhole he lived in a home and collapsed rather heavily on the beanbag chair whilst the memories replayed over and over in his head and the more he thought about it, the less it seemed to make sense to him. He made an attempt to get rid of the ragged clothes that clung to his skin like muck and that's when things began to go haywire.
It began with an itch, an irritating insignificant itch which progressed rapidly into a sort of mild pain, which in turn became something that caused him to crumple onto the floor as his entire back seemed to burn. His eyes watered and a loose yell escaped his lips as two darkened wings burst out from his back taking up quite the wingspan.
He let out a shrill scream and stumbled backwards falling down on his butt
"What the hell?!" he yelled but his voice came out wrong, stumbling around he finally found himself a mirror and another loose scream escaped his lips.
Something was wrong, very very wrong, even as his fingers traced across the foreign reflection that stared right back at him, he still gazed in disbelief, his mind simply in an adamant state, this could not be happening, not to him, not to him!
He let out another crazed yell and the sound of bones cracking as he morphed yet again, his wings retreating but his face remained the same, angelic some might say, he took one more disgusted look at himself and the eyes of a killer stared right back.
Ava
Home
It seemed quite a foreign concept to her to be back at the Oasis, she felt herself shiver slightly as she gazed once more at the imposing mansion she'd once called home.
"Ready for this Miss James?" Hugo called as he hauled her sparse luggage in "You presence here has been greatly missed"
She highly doubted that, facing the Winged seemed to be a mercy compared to coming back home and yet still it was inevitable that she'd found herself here again. The large iron gates swung open and she was once again swallowed in.
The sounds of training floated to her eyes bringing back memories of busted lips and bleeding knuckles. She could hear orders being barked viciously at trainees who couldn't be more scared
"Come" Said Hugo, pulling her inside and away from the training grounds "There will be time to reacquaint with the grounds but for now the council would love to hear your reports"
She was ushered in, and once again she was taken aback on how huge the buildings were as she was marched down the great hall
"Come now" Hugo said whilst picking up the pace "The Council does not like to wait, most especially your brother Rael"
The mention of her brother's name brought back a certain chill to her spine, cold and hardened, he was one of the reasons she left and now..
She didn't have much time to contemplate on their reunion as she was marched through large double doors that led directly to the Apex. Sitting all around her were members of the upper and lower Council, they looked down on her from their high seats as she was ushered him by a rather shaky and timid Hugo.
"Good luck" He whispered to her "you will need it!"
There was a strange silence and then one by one they all rose up and slipped into a bow as her father The Elder was ushered
"Elder" Hugo proclaimed Shakily "Ava James as requested"
Her father nodded his head slowly, if he was happy that she was alive, he did not show it, instead his steely grey eyes and his stern face weathered with age bored into her like drills
"Ava" He spoke in his deep baritone "proceed forward and regale us with your story"
Keeping her face as neutral as possible she approached the figure that called himself her father and offered a slight bow, more out of sarcasm than respect. Wasting no time she told of what she'd witnessed, leaving out only the parts involving the boy
"I was lucky" She said finishing up "that was all"
She looked around at the rathe stern looks affixed on her.
"Daughter" her father finally spoke up " I noticed you haven't said a word about the boy"
Her heart stilled for a moment and intense silence reigned
"Surprised Sister?" Her brother's horrid voice floated across the room "You really didn't think you were alone now did you?"
Of course the bastard had followed her on missions, he couldn't leave her alone, they never left her alone, Her eyes burned like wildfire as she glared daggers into the creature that was her brother
"Now come on" her brother said striding across the pavilion "tell us about your new friend"
She silently cursed the stars as she spun into a new tale
Unknown
In the depths of the Night Castle it sat, waiting for the an opportunity, a tear in the veil large enough for it to slip through and destroy all existence starting with those foolish Council who had him locked here in the first place
It'd burn them all just like he'd done with this world and then it'd move on, it'd devour non stop. All in good time, the seeds were sown all it had to do was to wait for it's champion to rend the veil to tatters.