Forbidden Entity: The Key ('The Key')

by Pia Philip

  “So you risk getting eaten by a Black Midnight dragon so that you can get killed by another creature?” She asked, “Where’s the logic in that?”

  “Well yes, but if you pass you get taken to Latrex city to train at the Academy,” Caleb replied, “It’s supposedly Paradise.”

  “well; good luck with that,” Max said, “But I don’t fancy your chances with the beast.”

  With that they left the square and made their way through the town looking for the Gate.

  “What’s the Academy?” Alex asked as she remembered Giorgio mentioned it too.

  “It’s a school for the elite who get trained to harness their ability properly, it’s where new members of the council are chosen,” Max explained proudly, “I attend the school and have been chosen to join the council.”

  “Well it can’t be that elite if they accepted you,” Sam smirked.

  “I was the youngest person ever to be chosen to join the council in over 3 century’s,” Max said flatly. She could help grinning as Sam struggled to come up with a remark.

  “So did you live there or something?” she asked saving Sam from any more humiliation.

  “Well… sort of,” Max said deviating from the question.

  “What do you mean, ‘sort of’?” Sam asked.

  “Well, the Academy is situated in the Capital, Latrex, “Max reluctantly explained, “But the Academy covers like 82% of the city.”

  Alex’s jaws dropped, she thought her school was big, she could just imagine children going missing in a place like that.

  “But if the army is recruiting people and taking them to the Academy wouldn’t it make sense for us to enlist?” She asked confused as to why they hadn’t thought of that already, normally she was the one who was slow at catching on plans and stuff that included her to use her brain for use other than anything football related.

  “Don’t be stupid,” Max and Sam both said dismissing her idea as if she was a little kid that didn’t know anything.

  “Why?” she asked hurt that they didn’t even give her idea a chance.

  “Well for one, you can’t fight to save yourself, Sam’s human,” Max said thoughtfully, “oh yeah, and it’s a Bloody Black Midnight Dragon! I can assure you none of the idiots who signed up for it will leave alive, do you know how many lives it’s taken, I can name over 50 in the council alone so what does those idiots let alone you with no experience or any knowledge about yourself as an Angel stand?”

  Alex wanted to scold him for his negative attitude but when he put it that way she realized just how insignificant they were in this terrifying world were creatures roamed free and laws bound them. They had no safety either way no matter what Max said. Other creatures hunted them. The law enforcers hunted and her father hunted them. How on earth did she get herself into this?

  They continued walking in thoughtful silence as they left the city far behind them, no longer wishing to stay to watch the massacre that would soon begin, and moved towards Calsway. Alex could see tuffs of smoke rising in the air so she knew they were close. That was when she spotted the green bush a few hundred feet in front of them, looking further on, it sprouted out into the most terrifying forest she have ever seen. Just the way the trees faced and the way it seemed to get darker even though the sun was rising fast. It gave an eerie feel to it; it was the sort of place you knew people went in and didn’t come out. You knew several bad things happened in there. A cold finger ran down her spine. She shivered then froze. She turned around but all she saw was Max and Sam quietly arguing. She shook her head as she mentally scolded herself. She was obviously over-reacting because of the vibes she got from the forest.

  “Hey, what do we do about this? I thought you said Hailsworth was on the west side of Calsway not in the damn front.” Alex muttered as she interrupted them. They could not stop arguing for more than five seconds, it was beginning to get tiresome.

  That’s what we’ve been trying to figure out for the past five minutes genius,” Sam muttered. Alex didn’t know why but a part of her felt sudden sadness. It was probably because he was the only one who had ever treated her the same as everyone else even though she wasn’t so smart. He normally gave her ideas a second thought before defusing them gently.

  “It must’ve grown out, it has got its own mind after all,” Max said, “I think we should go through it. It won’t take long. Probably.”

  She nodded her head reluctantly, she knew he was right even though the last thing she wanted to do was to step foot in that haunted place because that’s what came into her mind as she looked at it.

  “Well let’s just get this over and done with,” Sam muttered as he griped the Crolonian to his side before trudging on ahead. She quickly followed him.

  “What wrong?” she asked worried, “Are you mad with me?”

  “Now why would you ask that?” Sam asked sarcasm dripping from his voice. He continued walking through the forest. He had an advantage due to his height; he was 6 inches taller than her so he didn’t find any trouble with the bushes or hidden tree stumps like Alex. She struggled to keep up with him, constantly tripping over. She heard Max’s laugh from behind her, he was about the same height as Sam so he didn’t have to endure any of the trouble she had to go through.

  “Well, you’ve been cold to me since we left Paeledonia,” Alex panted as they came to a stop, “so you better spill.”

  “Well maybe it’s the fact that oh, I don’t know, you’re getting annoying,” Sam muttered quietly. Alex was sure she wasn’t supposed to hear that but he had under estimated her hearing ability.

  “Well sorry for annoying you so much, I’m just trying to think of a way to get us out of here safely,” she said, spiting the words out with annoyance, “sorry for caring too much.”

  With that she grabbed the Crolonian, spun on her heels and ran. She didn’t know which direction she went, all she know was that she did not want to be around anyone, and she did not want to be in this forest any longer. She took several turns not bothering to try and count them in case she needed to trace them again, either way she would’ve lost count soon. After about 5 minutes of running she slowed down to a walk. She had found a beaten down footpath. Several people had walked through this way, just how many actually got through to other side she wondered. Her thoughts travelled back to Sam and his weird behavior. Ever since she started getting stalked by her father’s men, they had been having several fights and most of them were understandably her fault. But today was out of the blue.

  “What’s his problem anyway,” she muttered as she leaned against the safest looking tree she could find before sliding down to the root and sitting cross legged.

  She laid the Crolonian on her lap and unwrapped it from the grey cloth. There was so much she didn’t know and seeing as her bad temper had gotten her lost with no one to help her, she figured she could try and figure out things herself. She flipped open the book onto a random page. It was the start of a new chapter but it was named. This got her thinking; she flipped back a few pages and found out that the other chapters were also named. She flipped through the book praying and hoping that she found what she was looking for. It was near the back of the Crolonian.

  Chapter 15- Dangers and Defense through war.

  The land of Latrex is one of many dangers. You must be on your guard constantly. When Dangers arise be ready to take them head on or be a fast runner. Make the mistake of hesitating and you could lose everything. There are seven rules one must follow to insure your survival. Some are cruel, some will test you, some will define you and some will break you.

  The first one you already know is be ready to pack and leave. Keep your guard up, no matter where you are, if your relieving yourself make sure to be on look out, you never know when an ambush could happen.

  Never trust anyone. That would be your biggest mistake. Trusting someone, might lead you to your demise. The only person you can rely on is you. Family does not matter in the life of war. Do not rely on Friend or family,
they could easily turn on you as the next stranger to save their skin. War changes people, never forget that.

  Be able to lie yourself out of trouble. You must sharpen your wits. Become the foxhound. Cunning and manipulative, be able to extract valuable information and hide it too.

  Be able to defend yourself. Being a perfect student on the theory of combat does no good on the actual field if you are a coward. You must banish the feeling of fear. You must train yourself harder than you have ever trained in your life. Be constantly working to make yourself better.

  Form comrades, not friends. You will always need Allies, no matter what you do, you will always come across someone stronger than you in war life. You must be strong enough to call on help but never trust fully. Never forget that they are your comrades, not your friends. Do not make plans with them without having an escape plan if anything goes wrong.

  Keep a look out for spies among your ranks. There will always be someone who is against you. Be able to spot fake, do regular checks. Never compromise you safety for anyone if a surprise attack is launched, chances are, it’s a ploy to gain trust.

  lastly, the most important one. Be ready to kill. Always have a weapon of some sort with you and when you make camp hide weapons secretly. If you are in the battlefield, you only have one chance. Two choices, Kill or be killed.

  Chapter 9

  Alex was about turn the page when she heard ruffling. Her body froze. She did not breathe trying to figure where the sound was coming from. It happened again. Someone was trying to hide in a bush of some sort to her left. Her head snapped to her left and she scanned the area looking for any possible hiding places. She quietly closed the Crolonian and wrapped it gently; never once letting her eyes leave where she had detected the sound was coming from. That was when she heard a cracking from her right. She inwardly groaned to herself. She was either getting ambushed or whoever or whatever was on her left had silently crossed to her right to confuse me. She mentally ran through the list. She had unknowingly ignored the seven rules of survival which led her to do the next best thing. Run.

  She bolted down the beaten path, trying to make as little noise as possible. She jumped over tree stumps and ducked under branches but that did not prepare her for what she saw in front of her. Blocking her path was a giant fallen tree. She sighed in frustration as she tried to figure out how to get around it. She could hear footsteps pounding on the ground getting louder by the second. She didn’t have time to think only do. Alex tucked the Crolonian into the shorts she had wisely not taken off while back in Paeledonia.

  She grabbed a branch and started climbing her way up not daring to look down or behind her. IN her hurry to escape, she forgot how terrified of heights she was. Rule number whatever; be able to cast away fear.

  She took a deep breath and continued climbing, she swung one leg over the trunk so that she could straddle it before taking out the Crolonian. Whoever was perusing her was almost there. In only a few seconds he would burst through the foliage and come for her she swung her other leg around just as she saw a glimpse of white before jumping to her near death. A scream tried to break out of her mouth as she realized the trouble she had gotten herself into. She had just managed to grab hold of a small branch before she was able to fall 60 feet to Rocky River.

  ‘Why had I not heard water?’ she wondered to herself as she tried pull herself up, only that resulted in the branch bending. She did not want to take the chance of breaking the branch and falling several feet down. She didn’t think she would appreciate it. The longer she looked down inspecting to see if there was anything else she could hold onto, the more disorientated she got. She couldn’t hold on forever, this much she was certain of. Damn, she though, her fingers were already slipping, due to the sweat caused by her acrophobia (fear of heights).

  “If somehow in hell, I managed to get out of here alive, I am going to follow the rules of survival to the dot,” she promised herself as she closed her eyes in the effort it took to cling on for dear life. Suddenly there was a loud snap that indicated that someone was nearby. That was when both her pride and dignity was outdone by the fear for her life.

  “HELP!!” she screamed, “SOMEONE HELP ME!”

  She did not care if an enemy found her and helped her or a stranger, at least then she would be on ground, beautiful solid ground.

  There was another crack, they must be close now. She lifted her face so that they could see who they were saving only to notice that her branch was hanging on by only a single bit of bark. Those cracks were not of someone nearby, those cracks were what told her she was about to drop down to her ultimate doom. She closed her eyes as she heard the final crack and the rush of wind as she fell. She could no longer suppress the scream that rang out her mouth. It sounded almost inhuman to her ears but that could’ve been because she was falling feet first down to her grave. She felt pressure on her wrist before the wind force changed direction, but before she could understand this she had crashed. Her body hit solid ground. It wasn’t as painful as she had imagined. It wasn’t as wet as she had imagined either. She opened her eyes and found herself nose to nose staring into eyes that seemed to dance in the sunshine even though there was no visible sun. She recognized those eyes from anywhere. Sam. She so badly wanted to embrace him, jump on him, cover him in kisses and squeal in happiness but the seven rules of war life and the reminder of their latest argument stopped her. She reluctantly pulled away from him.

  “Thanks for saving me,” she whispered. It was so quiet she wasn’t sure he heard her. They stood in awkward silence for a few seconds before deciding to break the silence.

  “Where’s Max? I managed to decipher more of the Crolonian,” she said as she smiled warily.

  That proved to be the wrong thing to say to him, because his face contorted in anger.

  “Again with Max and the damned Crolonian,” he growled, “one of the first words when you see me is where is Max? Now you just sound like every other girl I know.”

  She didn’t know what to say, she felt a mixture of Hurt and Anger.

  “Excuse me?” she asked in disbelief.

  “You heard me, you’re just like them now, worried about how you look, so concerned about Max and what he’s doing.” He muttered as he sat down in defeat, all the fight gone out of him, “You’re like a love sick puppy.”

  Alex didn’t know what or why she did what she did next, but she gave him slap across his cheek to set him straight.

  “Don’t even joke about that because it’s not funny,” she whispered as she felt tears sting at her eyes, “You don’t know how hard it is trying to fit into a world you have no idea about, constantly wary that someone might figure you out and try to kill you. I’m constantly being watched and hunted like an animal.”

  “Alex,”

  “Don’t even try and pretend like you do know because you don’t and I don’t think you ever will,” she laughed. It was a cold and bitter, all humor gone. “You don’t know how it feels to put all your faith into someone. Someone you don’t even like that much let alone fully trust, always afraid they might turn their back and leave you to defend yourself in a world you have no clue about. Constantly looking for things that’ll help you protect yourself and those you care about.”

  Sam didn’t say anything just stared at her before opening his arms and engulfing her in his arms. Warmth spread through her body as she molded to his. Hot tears streamed down her cheek.

  “I just want to go home. I want to see my mum.” she whispered as she rested her forehead on his chest.

  “I’m sorry I over reacted, I guess I got jealous,” He said as he loosened his grip on her. Alex looked up at him confused so he elaborated, “I guess I was worried you cared more for Max than you did for me because you were always talking about him or to him. I felt kind of left out.”

  “I’m so sorry, I just…” she said as she hugged him. The seven rules ran through her head, she wanted so badly to follow them, they were the first real help she had
found but she knew she couldn’t betray Sam like that.

  “I don’t know what do anymore,” Alex sighed, “When I was reading the Crolonian I came across the seven rules of war life and survival and now my emotions are just running wild.”

  “What do you mean?” Sam asked confused.

  “I feel like a girl, “She said in disgust.

  “Last time I checked you were a girl,” Sam smirked even though he fully well knew what she meant. She gave him a warm smile before summarizing what she had read.

  “That actually seems pretty legit,” He said, “Although I do want you to trust me fully, you know I would never abandon or even consider betraying you.”

  If this was at the start of this bizarre adventure they had somehow got themselves involved in, she would’ve believed him fully. But now the image of his face when Giorgio had come up to her refused to leave her mind. She was petrified by the amount of hate in his eyes, It was unnatural to have that much hate for someone you had not said 2 words to before, right?

  She didn’t know how to deal with it, she was so used to nice Sam that this new side of him really was scaring her but yet again they were in a world where black midnight dragons roam free and can kill you, yet the government considers it a good idea to set the beast onto hundreds of poor foolish young kids who were too big for their own boots. Sam must have seen the conflict on her face because his mouth dropped in horror. Alex instantly felt guilty.

  “I’m sorry, it’s just that near the gates of that other city, when Giorgio had come up to me, I accidently looked at you and saw so much anger and hate in your eyes, it was like there was a whole different side of you that I had never before even new existed, “ she said in a rush to try and defend herself, even though she didn’t need to, it was her opinion, “you looked like you were about to jump on him and rip his throat apart with your own fingers,”

  “That was because of the way he was staring at you,” Sam pointed out, “it just got on my nerves that he saw you almost get killed several times yet he did nothing.”