Imperium-4
1508 Words
Daft Punk- Within
The inner council is settled in Romania. To be exact, it's inside one of the oldest standing monuments in history. Bran Castle. The infamous Castle Dracula. I had been here with my dad once when I was fourteen and went through a Victorian Gothic stage that involved the prince of Darkness original, Dracula.
The building is intact. The only difference now is that it is levitating over what used to be the hill it was on. An earthquake had leveled the terrain a little over eight hundred years ago. The castle was saved by a fanatic. Tours are held on certain days of the week and a massive Vampiric Ball is hosted every Halloween. Those who are rich enough can sometimes rent the castle for weekends. This is one of those times. There is no safer place in the world than this fortress.
It's beautiful up here. Below, everything is covered in the midst of the cold night. It looks like a bunch of clouds against the wanning gibbous moonlight. The blue light emitting from the force field holding up the terrain left a light buzzing in the air and it's feeding this inside of me. It's making me feel stronger. It's giving me energy.
"Trinity, these are Barrington and Leenah Stone," Ridge called out coming over to me from inside the building.
I turned away from the view below and took a step back when I saw the three of them coming over to me. The lights I had been seeing coming out of everyone's chests. It's one. A very bright thick laser-like connecting the two of them chest to chest. I couldn't stop looking at it.
"What do you see?" the giant man asked. "Why are you crying?"
I reached up to feel that I had tears streaming down my face. I looked away from them to wipe the tears away. Why had I started crying? What is this emotion in my chest?
"Ms. Finley?" I looked over at the woman. Ridge had been right. They're both intimidating.
The man is at least six feet four inches tall maybe more. His dark ominous eyes alone told the story of his long-lived life. The remainder of a burn mark coated along his left ear down to his neck, another scar down the right side of his face. As if someone had tried to slice the side of his head off and managed to barely cut him with the edge of whatever the hell it was they were using to try to kill him. The scar starts a little above his eyebrow and rakes down to the small space between his lower lip and his chin.
The woman is as tall as I am. Her dark almost jet black hair is beautiful. Her jade green eyes stand out because of it. Her make up looks like someone had done it professionally. A piercing adorning her right eyebrow. The tattoos decorating her arms and across her chest are faded as if she had gotten them a really long time ago. They weren't concealed either. She wears them proudly along with her fitted blue dress and heels. She's very beautiful.
"I'm sorry," my voice broke a little. I cleared my throat. "I'm sorry. I just..."
"Take a walk with me, Trinity. Babe, stay with Ridge," Barrington said motioning me to follow him. I nodded walking after him. I'm not sure why. I don't know the man and he looks like the kind of guy trouble follows. "The terrain is massive. I think it was altered when they brought it up,"
"It wasn't. The hiking trails and surroundings were kept because of the story. The small village up ahead is actually mentioned in Bram Stroker's Dracula," I corrected him. He smiled looking over at me.
"You like to learn," I nodded. I glanced back at the laser that was now protruding out his back and towards Leenah. "What is it?"
"What?" I asked denying being able to see anything. He sighed.
"Did you do any homework on me?" he asked. I looked at him guiltily. He smiled. "Then you know of the time I came from?"
"Yeah, you fought in the great invasion. You were one of the first of what they call the mutant genome of a superhuman. You were born that way in twenty eighty-three. A thousand and eleven years ago,"
"I actually wasn't born this way. When I was twenty-eight, I had been assigned to a new platoon after the Taurean's attacked my base in Moscow. I was wounded pretty badly in the attack. They put me in an ICU pod. The Taurean's used weapons that harnessed the energy of the heat of metal with the help of the armor they wore. Our weapons were useless against them. Since they were made of metal and shot metal.
"The ICU pods weren't made of glass back then like they are now. The medicine spray wasn't something that moved along our bodies it was built to the top with lots of metal. It fell on me. I died that day. Just like you did the night of your accident. Just as Leenah died. We came back for some reason. Like this," he lifted his arm the scaring along his hand began to glow a bright orange and then red. "My DNA mended with the energy of what killed me like yours did with the electricity,"
"I don't understand. Why did you lie on the report?"
"If I had told them what I told you now, I'd be an experiment just like they want you to be. This is why I came for you. Why I want you to come back to Imperium with my wife and me," he smiled at me and stopped walking. "That's not what I wanted to say. I know you can see something because I can too,"
"What do you see?" I asked.
"A number on everyone's chest. It's like a light that burns in their chest. It's red,"
"What does that mean?"
"I didn't know at first. Until I met a woman who was on one. I followed her all day. At midnight, following into the next day the number became zero and began to fade. She was in an accident on the highway, she collided with a semi carrying lumber. They were different back then. They ran on diesel. A two by four went through her chest and the number completely disappeared," I looked away. "I know you see something too,"
"What is my number?"
"You have an infinity symbol. Like I do. Like Lee does. Like the other six do,"
"It's a line. Like a connection," I said looking away. "Yours is the first one I've ever seen that is that bright. The first one I see connected someone else's. It comes from inside of you. Yours is connected to Leenah's. From your chest to hers and it's the brightest light I have ever seen. It lit up the entire yard,"
"Others have this?" he asked. I nodded.
"Everyone. Some are not very bright but none of them have ever compared to yours and Leenah's,"
"Is your's bright?" he asked.
"I don't have one. I thought it was because I was different,"
"It might be because it's something you see in others. The universe's way of balancing you out,"
"What does it mean? Do you know?" he smiled shaking his head.
"We'll figure it out, kid. I promise,"
"You want to protect me?" I asked. He nodded.
"You might be a century old now but you're still a kid. You're still eighteen years old at heart no matter what kind of hardship you've gone through,"
"You want to adopt me?" I scoffed. He smirked.
"I want you to be safe until you understand what you are and how to work with it. I can feel the strength of your power. How this field is powering you. You're a lot stronger than I am. You're a lot stronger than, Leenah,"
"Is she stronger than you?" I asked. He smiled.
"No, she isn't,"
"Does it ever get better?"
His eyes got a little darker. His lips pressed together and he shook his head.
"There will be times when you will forget what you are because you'll be happy. Then, there will be a time when you are deeply reminded of what you are and you'll curse it. Finally, there will be times when you will be so grateful for this, it'll consume you. You have a lot to look forward to. You'll never be bored for too long,"
I bowed my head feeling worse than before.
"Barry?" we both looked over to see Leenah walking in our direction. For an instant, the connection between them sparked making me jump back.
"You alright?" he asked reaching for me.
"Yeah, it just scared me," I said not letting him touch me. "It brightened when you turned to look at her,"
"That's interesting," he said. "If you notice anything else out of the ordinary let me know,"
"None of this is ordinary," I whispered.
"I know, sweetheart but it's what we are now. There is no point in resisting. It'll only cause yourself more harm," Leenah inquired. "It's time for the meeting to start. We'll escort you in but you're going to have to stand up for yourself,"
- Writer
