Charlotte's Perspective
The news shattered me, delivered by the woman who calls herself my mother: the Serpent Queen, a figure of legend and formidable power, had been captured. Panic warred with a desperate urgency. All my frantic searching for Kimi, the person who anchored my entire world, had been for nothing. In a moment of raw frustration, I reached for my uncle, a desperate bid for solace or direction. But the line echoed with empty silence. He hadn't answered a single call for years, a ghost flickering on the fringes of my memory.
It had been almost a decade since I'd last seen him. The memory was branded onto my mind: my father's funeral, a somber occasion rendered surreal by his presence. He stood amongst the mourners, his face hidden behind a balaclava. I was a child, lost in a haze of grief, yet I could still recall the bizarre symbol stitched onto the fabric—a strange emblem pulsing with an unsettling, almost otherworldly energy. It was a detail that had never truly left me.
The oppressive silence of my thoughts was ripped apart by the shrill ring of my phone. Elena's name flashed across the screen, and a jolt went through me. Bracing myself for whatever venom she planned to unleash, I answered with a cold, "Hi," my voice betraying none of the turmoil raging beneath the surface.
"You have time for greetings when your precious is about to die?" she hissed, her voice laced with a sinister glee that sent a chill down my spine.
Fear tightened its icy grip, forcing the urgency of the situation into stark relief. "Where is she?" I managed, my voice trembling with worry and mounting desperation.
"With Mr. Adrian. The Serpent Queen hunters," she spat, her tone dripping with malice.
A wave of heat washed over me, fueled by a white-hot rage. "Where the fuck is she?" I yelled, losing all control, the fury finally breaking free.
"She doesn't even remember you," Elena purred, her words like a blade twisting cruelly in old wounds, delivered with an unnerving, almost inhuman coldness.
The phone slipped from my hand, hitting the console of my car with a resounding thud, echoing the chaos exploding inside me. I punched the steering wheel, the sharp pain a fleeting distraction from the agonizing reality of Kimi's betrayal. Erased from her memory? How could that be? I clenched my fists, trying to gain some stability amidst the storm, and for one terrifying moment, the world went black. My focus narrowed, sharpening to a razor point: I had to find Kimi, whatever the cost. The world could burn for all I cared, as long as I could get to her.