by Arantes
One of the men yelled out, “It’s that demon Aleister; he’s behind all the killing that’s been going on!” The people were getting impatient; this had been going on for far too long. The King’s warriors were useless. Only the nobles were kept safe at night in the rich district. The poor district was left to fend for themselves.
“Alright people, let us handle this,” said William as his men tried to ward off the crowds.
“How long are you and your guards going to say that? Every time it’s the same… excuses,” said one of the people. “When will you bring this monster to justice? How many of our children must die?”
“We are doing the best we could to protect you,” said William with much calmness.
One of the people mumbled, “To protect the nobles that is.”
This did not sit well with the guards. One of the guards grabbed the man who was mumbling and whipped him. The man’s face was cut. A child scream from the back of the crowd as the blood floated on the man’s face. The others were too scared to even think about helping.
“We will not accept intolerance!” as the guard was ready to whip the man again, he felt someone grabbing his hand. As he looked back he saw Angelione with a hateful look. He was not pleased with an outsider interfering with his business. “What business do you have interfering outsider?”
Before Angelione could start talking Sonia said, “If you want to whip someone how about me.”
“All right that’s enough. All of you people go back to your homes, there’s nothing here to see!” said William with an angry tone.
Angelione let go of the guard and the people started scattering. The man who was whipped was helped to his feet and some of the people promised to help him get cleaned up.
As the people left the scene, Sonia caught a glimpse of the corpses a few feet away from her. The stench of burned bodies finally reached her nose. She felt something moving inside of her stomach, it tasted like acid. Before Angelione could grab her in time the vomit had already left her mouth. He took his scarf and gave it to her to wipe her mouth clean. Angelione himself stared in disbelief as he looked at the bodies just a couple feet in front of him. All on top of one another, leaving the air smelling like blood.
“So is this what happens when Aleister goes on a killing spree?” said Angelione with a repulsive tone.
Sonia turned her face the other way, vomit almost came up again. She took a deep breath before facing the pile of bodies. They walked closer to William and Samuel with the same look they had on their faces.
“Do you mind if we take a look at the bodies?” asked Angelione.
William gave them the go ahead to do it. Angelione covered his mouth and started
coughing. The smell had a way of scratching your throat. The victims’ bodies were sliced with swords perhaps, deep wounds too. Sonia bent down next to Angelione and they looked at each other.
“That old woman, she could have used her ability to see their memories and help us better, but now she’s dead,” said Angelione. Even though that their dead I’m certain her ability would have still work on them. He gave Samuel a faint look, as if saying killing her was unnecessary. He started to think, why would Aleister do such a thing? Is it really in his nature? The bodies had slashes all over them, not just their faces, their necks were bitten also.
This is horrible, thought Sonia.
“William, send all your men to search the city from head to toe,” ordered Angelione.
Their wounds were still pretty fresh. If Aleister is here then this was their chance to catch him.
William ordered his men to do so without hesitation. Sonia however had enough. She walked to the other side away from the smell.
Angelione now had enough also. As he getting up, Samuel put his hand on his shoulder unexpectedly. This man crept up on him out of the blue. He wasn’t startled at all. He had on those pairs of white gloves again.
With a smile Samuel said, “It's terrible what happened, but we all know by now what they’re capable of. To them, death is just another part of life that must be done with.”
Angelione stood up. “I suppose your right,” he said with no expression upon his face.
A few minutes passed by and one of the guards came from around the corner running, exhausted with excitement on his face. “We got him!” he shouted. He stopped and caught his breath. “Aleister sir, he’s been spotted over the bridge.”
William and Samuel exchange a look, “This is it! Our chance is now to catch him.”
Samuel and William went ahead. Angelione told them Sonia needed some time to get herself together. He had seen Sonia not even flinching or enthusiastic about the news.
“What’s on your mind Sonia?” he asked.
“Don’t you find it strange, Angelione? Aleister has just committed a massacre and now
they’re telling me he was spotted. Something is just not adding up.”
“Yes I do.” He fixed the glasses on his face.
“Angelione, since we been here, this place feels ominous. The citizens hate their king and his men, if they try to speak up they only get killed.”
He explained to her that their mission was to catch Aleister and not worry about the
citizens. “Nothing’s going to change if we just stand around. Let’s go.”
Running in the snow was going to be tricky for Sonia. It was something she was not used too. Her way of running was from jumping from roof to roof, much faster than the ground.
Angelione followed by her side, they jumped to the next house swiftly. They took extra precautions as not to slip.
“I can see the bridge!” said Sonia.
They made their way to join the others. The bridge had spanned from the east rich district to the west rich district. It was made of stone and steel. It has two stone towers that rise on each side. Spider webs of cables are strung from tower to tower and hold the roadbed. The snow had covered the bridge from top to bottom, leaving only footsteps for the eyes to see. William’s men were searching from head to toe, climbing the bridge to make sure they covered every angle. Sonia and Angelione landed on the other side; they walked to William and asked him if anything had changed.
“We must have just missed him, my men searched everywhere,” he said with a disappointed voice.
They all looked apprehensive. Now what? This was their only lead, now they had nothing. Was Aleister that smart? He had managed to put a search team - no a kingdom - in a stage of chaos.
William rubbed his face. The man was tired. He closed his eyes and thought about going back to bed, lying next to his wife. But today was no time for that. He said, “I’m going to gather my men. I’ll see what our next move will be.”
Sonia was disappointed. She caught herself staring at the frozen lake. Angelione stood next to her with his arms crossed, thinking about their next move. Something about this scenery that gave Sonia the Goosebumps, it felt as if a bug was crawling on her skin. The water underneath the bridge was solid ice.
“This is a waste of time. We’re running around in circles, Angelione,” said Sonia. She took her eyes off the lake and looked up. What was that? She started thinking. Sonia caught a glimpse of someone watching on the other side of the bridge. “Angelione, I think I saw something.”
She was still frail from what happened, which made Angelione wondered if she was going mad. She pointed out where she saw someone watching her, but Angelione saw nothing.
“I see him!” Sonia whispered forcefully, making sure only Angelione heard her. The person watching her was gone. He’s heading for the other side of the west rich district. She ran after him.
“Sonia, wait!” She ran to the other side, Angelione followed after her.
***
“Where are they going?” said William as he watched them run.
He and his guards had noticed no one. “They can do as they please, let’s keep searching here.”
Samuel on the other hand noticed it; he followed them but was falling behi
nd.
***
“Sonia are you sure you saw someone,” said Angelione eagerly.
“I know what I saw, just keep following,” said Sonia, she herself wasn’t even sure if she saw someone.
“We’ll get there faster from up high,” said Angelione.
The Reapers jumped from house to house. Sonia saw a shadow going inside an abandoned mansion. It looked as if it had not been used for decades. Déjà vu, she thought. “In there,” she said. She remembered the first time Albedo had helped her; this old mansion reminded her of that day.
They quickly rushed to make their way inside. She wondered how this mansion had survived in the rich district. The nobles would surely have gotten it demolished. Anything inartistic surely didn’t belong in their world. They made their ways inside the dark mansion. Inside was a picture of the previous owner. The walls was covered in moss, it reeks of dead animals.
“It smells in here,” said Sonia. “Fire.” Sonia had light around her hand to bright up the place a bit.
“Do you think he’s in here?” asked Angelione. Whoever we’re looking for. Angelione didn’t even seem to be petrified or worried.
She looked at him, “Angelione, do you believe me?” she herself wondered if she was going mad. Ever since the memories exchange with the old lady, she knew her mind wasn’t right. She had developed a fear for someone she had never met.
Angelione responded, “Yes I do. I have never doubted you before and I don’t plan on doing it now.” With everything that’s been going on it’s easy for one to lose its way. For now I must tend to her needs until she gets herself together. Angelione was concerned about her. Was she strong enough mentally after what happened? I guess he had to find out. “This house is too big, we have to split up.”
Sonia understood and was happy he believed her. She and Angelione had split up; she went to the basement while Angelione went to the top floor.
Sonia made her way to the basement; there she could feel something wasn’t quite right. Her body was shaken, but she chose to face her fear and go anyway. She had her light around her hand, enabling her to see through the darkness. Around her were hundreds of pictures. It’s clear no one had entered this house for years. It was so cold, she increased the fire emitting from her hand to keep herself warm. She waved her hand to ward off the dust that seemed to be trying to find its way into her lung. It smelled like rotten animals, no windows to allow the wind to sweep and make away this dreadful smell. The thought of leaving this place was raging in the back of her mind. Even the flies and the smallest bugs had deserted this place. As she took one of the pictures down to look closely, she faintly heard someone behind her. She felt a pain of terror stab in her spine as she grabbed her dagger ready to strike this shadow standing behind her.
The man grabbed her quickly and tightly. His grip was firm around her neck, Sonia choked for air. Her feet were dangling from the ground, she struggled to break free, but her mind would not permit her to do so. Her body was paralyzed; she felt a dread like one she’d never felt before.
“Do you know who I am?” asked the man holding her neck. His hollow voice whispered raspy and evil. “My name is Aleister.”
Her very soul felt as if it left her body. The fire emitting from her hand was fading away; she couldn’t see his face very clearly.
Aleister said with a cynical tone, “I wasn’t planning on killing today, but I guess I can make an exception.”
She still had the picture in her shaky hand, as they began to tremble more, she dropped it.
“I’ve noticed you and your partner came all the way here to find me,” Aleister put his mouth closer to her ears and said softly.”But what you don’t know is that in actuality, I found you.”
His voice sounded so sinister. When he spoke she caught a glimpse of his fangs, his eyes were glowing a little. This was certainly the man she was looking for, now that she found him, what will she do?
***
Angelione was alone in the upper level. He did not bother using his sword to remove the spider webs all around him. The room was deserted, the windows were broken and glasses scattered around the room. From the corner of his eyes he could see a presence behind him, he turned around and saw a man with long white hair standing there. This man had unique blue and red eyes. Even the mighty Angelione was startled for just a second. It’s him. He wasted no time taking out his sword from his back; he swung the sword aiming for Aleister’s head. Aleister dodged it and jumped. He landed on the other side of the room. Angelione had swung the sword with such a massive force; the side of the wall was sliced and split in two.
“By the order of High King Victor, I’m here to bring you in for questioning!” said Angelione.
Aleister stood there, not saying a word. Angelione continued on his attacks. It felt strange somehow; his reputation was not living up to his expectation. Aleister seemed slow even though he was known for being a quick one.
Angelione continued talking while swinging his sword, “First, for being suspicious of one of the five Kings of Awakening.” He swung his sword faster. “Second, for the murder of innocents.”
Aleister was only dodging his attacks. He jumped and landed by the window.
Angelione looked at his direction and put down his sword. I don’t want to bring you in for questioning, Aleister. I want to finish you before you can rise and become too powerful.
Angelione’s left hand was holding his right wrist, his five finger opened and pointed at Aleister’s direction. He closed his eyes and said, “Forgive me brother.”
A bolt of electricity came out of his right hand. The mansion lit up in high voltage. Half of the room was obliterated; he had nearly destroyed the upper floor with his ability. The sun now beamed down on him, not even the smallest creature could have escaped his lightning. He took a deep breath; this ability had taken a lot out of him. As the dust cleared up Aleister was nowhere to be found. Angelione pauses for a second, with steam coming out of his right hand. It was obvious that he hadn’t used his ability in a while. He took a minute to catch his breath.
“Fighting against an opponent like him, there’s no holding back.” He held his hand while the steam settled, “Sonia!” he thought about her quickly and rushed downstairs.
***
Sonia was still being held by Aleister, the joyful look on his face told her he was going to kill her.
“Well, there’s no need to keep you alive now is there?” His nails started growing longer and sharper with his eyes glowing a little. As he was about to pierce through her stomach, his finger was inches away from her main artery. He stopped as if something had stopped him from finishing her off.
“Why do you defy me?!” said Aleister, Why can’t I kill her? Aleister removed his hand from her neck
Who was he talking about? She thought.
He let his guard down; this was her chance to strike. Still shaking in fear, she grabbed her daggers and went for his heart. The fear had made her slow, by now she would have killed her prey. But she knew this man was not ordinary. He grabbed her hand with a blink of an eye before she could strike. His right hand came closer to her face; she could feel the heat rising from it. White steam started blowing from it. He stopped instantly before grabbing her face.
Aleister grabbed his head yelling in pain. “Get out of my head!”
Again Sonia wondered whom he was talking to. She had let fear control her and it might have cost her, her life. He threw her back to the other side of the room and into the wall. Aleister had his hands on his head screaming. Sonia got up and was apprehensive. She saw her chance to escape and took it. She was too afraid to even think about trying to fight him, even if he looked occupied. She ran up the stairs and she saw the knob turning before she could open the door. Samuel appeared from the other side of the door, startling her. What was he thinking, scaring her half to death, she thought it was Aleister.
“Sonia what’s the matter? I heard someone scream.” He noticed her shaking again. Her
face was white as snow.
“He’s here. He’s going to kill us all!”
Samuel looked behind her and there was nobody there. Not even a mouse squeaking. “You see, there’s nobody here but me and you,” he held her tight.
As she looked back she saw no one. Samuel quickly went downstairs to find the place
Empty. He went back to her to let her know there was no one there. Aleister was gone. How could he have escaped this fast? At that moment Angelione arrived out of breath.
“Did you guys see him, which way did he go? I fought him, I think I killed him.”
Sonia and Samuel looked baffled.
“What are you talking about, Angelione? Aleister was here, he almost killed me,” said Sonia.
“No,” answered Angelione in confusion, “I was fighting him a minute ago upstairs.”
Samuel put his hand on his chin, “Hmm, interesting, could it be possible that there are two of him?” That, of course, was the worst news they wanted to hear.
“Great, just what we need. Another one of him,” said Sonia angrily.
William and his men arrived. Samuel explained to him what just happened. They secured the place and made sure Sonia was safe. William and his men had seen Angelione’s bolt of electricity from the other side of town.
“Two Aleister you said? This is disturbing news,” said a worried William. “Men, send news to the king at once!” he ordered.
Angelione approached Samuel. “It’s funny how you showed up where you’re not supposed to be Samuel.” He said with a suspicious look.