Zephyr

by K. T. Rombough

  Spinning around, my arms out stretched I threw up a barrier of air holding back the mist, the magic and the horsemen. Something was wrong though, we were missing one. The white gunman fired on us multiple times, each bullet bouncing off the barrier, I could feel it weakening it momentarily. The black rider using his rope now like a whip continued to slash against the barrier, not breaking through but weakening it as well. The smoky cloud of magic swirled the barrier covering it completely, everyone inside began to freak out, each scared for what was happening. The one creature in the earth that could kill us without hesitation and without trouble. We didn’t stand a chance against them.

  The barrier began shrinking down, its walls started to crumble under the immense pressure of the horsemen. As the barrier continued to crack, I sunk back to the ground, softly landing on my feet. The air around us grew thick, each of us choking on the magic pestilence used. But we were missing one, death, the red horse.

  Everyone choking, crumpling to the ground, we were defenceless. They attacked with speed and accuracy. Before I could take a breath, a rope was tied around my neck, Piper crumbled her, eyes completely removed, Gabby was decapitated, Karen and Ashley were the next falling to pestilence in moments. And then there it was the red horse, moving faster than I could have assumed possible, the cowboy on top holding a scythe. Desmond and Simone stood next to each other, both trying to stand their ground. Quart was to their left, the white cowboy raised his gun, each bullet firing with deadly accuracy, one in the head, one in each shoulder and the last in his heart. Quart fell to the ground, his blood flowing, dripping, his eyes open wide in horror.

  As I watched Tyler’s murder the rope tightened, and the slap of the horse echoed again in my head, but before I could brace myself I was being dragged away from everyone, choking, blood aspirating from me. Out of the corner of my eye Desmond stood clutching his chest, the red horseman had a heart dripping from his scythe. As Desmond was the last to fall Simone stood, trying to stand his ground but he couldn’t hold them off.

  His flames arching in the air, the heat radiating from him. But the scythe came down, his hands toppling to the ground. Simone fell to his knees, and moments later the ground and Simone erupted in a fiery blaze. Everyone around him lighting up, burning to a complete char. Lifted to the nearby tree, hanging from the branch, to watch my family burn and die.

  The four horsemen each atop their horses looked upon me, “you are an abomination, and you will not be allowed to continue living. We will hunt you in every life and snuff you out.” The red cowboy said, his voice cracking and deep, almost as if coming from the guttural earth.

  “Where is the book hidden? Give us the book!” the white cowboy said now, his guns swirling in the air as they turned around his finger.

  “No,” I choked out, barely able to breathe.

  “Fine,” The white cowboy said as he fired his gun, the ledge I was on blown from my feet.

  I felt my body fall, the rope tauten against my neck, the snap of the bones. Everything went black.

  I sat bolt up right, my head pounding. Desmond and Simone the same, each of us looking at each other in horror. “They know about the book, there coming.” Desmond said holding my hand tight.

  “Who is coming?” Karen asked as she walked into the living room.

  Ashley was peering around the corner as if shy. Karen looked concerned by the look on my face.

  “Can you please tell me what’s going on?” Karen asked now turning to Simone and Desmond.

  Simone opened his mouth, I only assumed to give Karen the story we just all seemed to experience.

  Lori walked into the living room, “Everyone please come and sit, there is much to discuss so you can leave.” As if she didn’t even notice what had just happened.

  But everyone did exactly as she said, each of us were piled into the living room, this time Ashley and Karen sat next to me, while everyone else circled around us.

  “Each of you please take one another’s hands, to form a circle. I’m going to show you what we all were put through.” Lori said grabbing Gabby and Piper’s hands.

  As each of us connected hands, we were each pulled back into another moment in our pasts.

  Chapter 25

  Remembering

  The room was black, with the sounds of children screaming, and crying. Sacks covered the children’s heads, their hands bound behind their back, some with rope, others with metal, some with weird looking ties. Their feet bound as well, bound to one another as if to stop them from moving around. A tall woman walked through the tied-up children, fourteen in all. Her cloak flowing to the floor as it dragged along, the silk cloth gliding over the children’s moving bodies.

  “Shut up,” She snapped, her voice piercing. It was a voice I had heard many times now. All the children stopped moving, their mouths stopped moving. The room was silent again.

  Flurite still gliding across the room, her powers seemed to drip from her fingers, spilling over the children. Her face lite up slightly as the lantern swung on its post. She was beautiful, not like I remembered her when she attacked me. This woman was tall, slender and her eyes were a bright purple and green mix. Her face was so pretty and drawing, mesmerizing.

  “Why are you in here Mrs. Price-Jones? You know the rules, until their powers are stripped, you are not allowed to see them.” Flurite said, turning her hooded face towards Lori. Her eyes glowing bright blue.

  “Yes, your absolutely right Flurite, my apologies,” Lori said out loud, her face not changing, but her head screamed no, her mind raced with her daughter being stripped of everything that made her special. No I can’t turn around, no, she has me under her control. I can’t leave my daughter alone, she’s so scared. They all are, why am I walking out of the room. Damn her and her telekinetic abilities. Stop moving, turn around and stay with your daughter.

  Her body continued to walk out of the room, her arms and face fighting the mind. She tried her hardest to fight the power that Flurite used. Finally reaching her bed in the giant bunk room.

  How does she have this much power over someone, I can not move. She thought, still fighting the urge to close her eyes. But sadly, she lost the battle. Before the final close of her lids, my mother’s long hair caught Lori’s eyes. “Yass?” she said before the room when completely dark and silent.

  The next morning everyone was woken with a loud siren, each of the 14 parents that were brought to this place as representatives and guardians of the children.

  “Attention ladies and Gentlemen of the Elemental children. You are required in the council room in 20 minutes, please gather your things and be in your seats, the clock is ticking.” A loud speaker echoed through the room, the crackling of the voice made it sound as if they speaker was blown.

  “What about our children?” a man yelled to the speaker looking to the roof of the room, “Why are you keeping us?” he added still yelling to the ceiling.

  “Teddy, stop, they don’t care, and at this point we can’t fight it anymore, we lost.” Lori said gripping the man by his shoulders. Pushing him towards the doors, as a guard slapped wrists cuff on each of them.

  As Lori filed out of the door, someone I didn’t expect to see file out of the room was my father? There only seemed to be fourteen parents, for fourteen kids, but of those fourteen my mother and father were two of them.

  Lori watched as mom and dad clasped hands after the cuffs were placed on their wrists. Huddled together as they made their way through the halls, whispering to each other.

  “Why? Explain to me why you are here too? Nobody else’s partners are here,” Dad said, his voice sounding angry.

  “Never-mind, its not important,” mom replied to him, hoping to silence him on this topic.

  “No, I want to know,” Dad asked again, his voice raising.

  “Drop it, you will make a spectacle out of us,” She finished as she walked forward, dropping his hand.

  Lori continued walking forwa
rd, as the guards opened giant white doors, that seemed to lead to another large circular room. As Lori walked in she spotted Karen, she wanted to run to her, but something stopped her.

  The children kneeling in the center of the room, the sacks still covering their heads, the ties binding their wrists, their feet the only thing no longer bound. Behind each of them were chairs, each with letters inscribed into it, each Latin name.

  “Now parents, please find your seat behind your child. We will begin shortly,” The smooth voice that sounded like the one from the crackling speaker echoed in the room.

  Yass moved to sit in the chair labeled “Animus” while dad looked for “Zephyr”. Dad looked udder confused by where mom sat. Each parent took seats directly behind each child, each wanting to reach out to them, some tried, but were blocked by a magical barrier.

  Lori looked around the room and there was seating filled with people in long black cloaks, dark robes. Each showing a bright gold badge on it with their council number and their breed initial. And directly in front of where Dad sat was a larger desk, with only room for one person, and the person sitting there looked off. He had two horns shaped like a bull, with long tusks protruding from his mouth. His skin a tan brown color, but it looked rough and dry, almost cracked. His hands looked human, but that was where his human parts ended, his eyes as they blinked were a large black pupil and iris almost with no defining difference.

  He swung the gavel hitting it hard three times on his desk. Lori and the other parents leapt out of their seats in shock. Lori took a deep breath and listened to the charges. Immortal endangerment, excess powers, powers that threaten our way of life, creature mix breeding, to name some of the charges that caught Lori’s ear, she didn’t pay attention to all of them, she kept remembering events of Karen’s past, and events they shared. But now all she could think about was loosing her child to the councils. The idea that her child would be killed in front of her eyes, as she thought such horrible thoughts, tears began rolling down her face, clouding her sight.

  “What do you fourteen have to say for yourself? How do you plead?” The bull like immortal asked, pointing his gavel to Teddy, awaiting his response of not guilty. As he spoke, the creature above moved to the next parent, each one down the line saying the exact same thing.

  “Council, how do you find these children, what say you?” He asked now pointing to the councils that filled the room. A resounding motion echoed through the room, “guilty” their voices spoke in unison.

  “Parents, Immortals, these children have now been found guilty of their crimes against the Immortal worlds and will be stripped and punished accordingly. Please rise,” His voice now darker, deeper, came from behind Lori’s head. He started walking up the isle, standing in the middle of the all children.

  A swift movement of his hand and the sacks were pulled off the children’s heads. Each child looked terrified, and to my surprise Lori’s eyes met mine, I hadn’t realized I was directly across from her. The thoughts and pain in her mind when the sacks were pulled off. My brilliant green eyes glistening towards her, the only child without bright red eye lids, or tears streaming down my face. She couldn’t get the image of my face out of her mind, as I mouthed the words to her. “I’m sorry,”

  My eyes lit up, the bright green of them shone, almost blinding the sight of Lori. The room burst into straight chaos. The wall panels breaking off, the lights and chandeliers swinging in the air above. The rest of the children’s eyes began glowing, the room almost to bright with the colors of light.

  “Stop them now, I command of you, stop them now!” The creature spoke stomping his hooved foot to the floor, just before he was launched into the air, slamming him into the roof then the floor again.

  The chaos of the room continued until Gabby and Desmond burst with light. Their aura’s blanketed the entire room, each council member falling to the floor, unconscious. But the bull like councillor stood, readying to charge towards the children, but before he could make it farther than the first row of councillor chairs, Lori had wrapped her arms around his horns and snapped his neck in three places. His lifeless body lay in the center isle.

  “Yass, what do we do now?” Lori asked, looking at my mom as the fourteen of us, lay motionless on the floor. We were young but that much power used must have exhausted us.

  “Nobody leaves! Each of us have been brought here to watch our children be sentenced to death, and to have them ripped away from us and sent to live in the mortal world never to see us or their families again. I won’t let that happen. Now if you want your children to live stand behind them. Do exactly as I say, and I will do the spell,” Yass said kneeing down behind my head. While dad seemed to kneel behind another little boy’s head.

  Lori followed mom’s instructions exactly as she said them. Lori got to her knees, directly behind Karen. Placing her right hand on Karen’s forehead and moving her left hand to her own heart. Breathing deep they all looked to Yass as she began reciting the spell.

  “Powers greater than what they can bare, to hide and shield them from the dangers of our world. Block their memories, seal their magic within our hearts. Their parents to unbind or their true loves find them will they be released from this spell. I am charged with holding and caring for the powers of…” everyone repeated as mom spoke. Each finishing with the name of their child in front of them.

  The room shook violently, the walls cracking and crumbling. The ceiling continued to break, ceiling tiles falling around everyone. As rocks fell from the walls and the ceiling a grand barrier blocked the parents from the danger. The rocks and walls exploding into dust as they hit the barriers. The colors of the children’s aura’s flowed from the parents right hands to their left, ending in their heart. Their bodies glowed bright with our colors mixing with their natural body aura. And just as if started, it was over. The children still unconscious, the parents picked them up each carrying their child out of the room. The hall leaving the room seemed undestroyed, but as Lori continued to walk and carry Karen she kept alert. Her eyes darting from corridor to corridor.

  Her mind raced with thoughts of being free and escaping this prison. Her main thought was where she would run to and hide. She didn’t care where everyone else was, she needed to get her daughter to safety.

  As they all rounded the last corner heading to a giant bay door, guards managed to capture them. Stopping each of them, Lori’s heart pounded, her head grew hot, and everything went blank, it all went black.

  We all started blinking as if looking through one pair of eyes, the vision blurring into multiple different points of view, until my view point was my own. It cleared up, and Lori looked exhausted. But she wasn’t done, she still managed to keep explaining why she was stuck in this realm, this was their punishment.

  I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that my mother and father were in that room, and dad took the powers of someone else.

  A gold power aura.

  Chapter 26

  Destruction

  After Lori and Karen had filled us in on everything, everyone else took turns getting some rest. Then Desmond, Simone and I spent the rest of the night keeping watch for everyone else. Desmond and Simone spent most of the time in the field keeping an eye on the forest line, while I stayed back watching the house. Something was bothering me, if all or most of the families were stuck in this realm, where were my parents?

  I remembered where I was when Flurite attacked, but then when I was in the hospital was I in this realm or was I in a different realm? I was confused, I wanted to know if my parents were able to escape this dreary and dead realm.

  Sitting on the step, I took a deep breath. Karen came behind me, placing a palm on my shoulder as she stepped down the steps to stand in front of me.

  “You seriously got out of here and came back? What the hell is wrong with you?” she said her face contorting to something angry. Her almost cute but angry squirrel look.

  “Yes, Kade you found Desm
ond again, I can only imagine how freeing it would be to finally have the love of your life back.” Ashley said as she did the same to the opposite shoulder.

  “Why did you have to be an idiot and come back?” Karen said forcing an answer for her question.

  “Karen, we came back for you two. We lost something important and need your powers and help to get it back. And Ashley, yes, I am happy to have Desmond back in my life, but I need you two as well. We are and always have been inseparable in every life. Let me show you,” I said gripping their hands tight.

  The look in their eyes as they glossed over, them seeing exactly what I wanted them to see, our memories into the past. Lori did the job at awakening them so far but they needed more knowledge for when they are given their powers they will know how to use them again.

  We sat on the steps talking and catching up the rest of the night, Desmond and Simone stopping by every couple hours to make sure everything was okay. Around eight in the morning Lori came out of the house asking the girls to come inside. Ashley and Karen stood in the living room, Lori stood opposite of them while the rest of us stood away in the kitchen.

  A light knocking at the door happened, startling everyone.

  “It’s Roxia, can I come in?” a high pitched voice spoke, which if anyone knew her, did not match what she looked like.

  “Yes of course, I need you help with the garden please. Come in for lemonade first, then we will head out,” Lori said as the eight of us moved to each side of the kitchen, leaving a large gap for Roxia to come through.

  As she opened the door she closed it behind herself, and locking it, not only with a dead bolt but magic. She pulled out a wand and waved it across the door. And to our surprise the inside of the door made clicking noises, a couple loud thuds as if locks were dropping into the floor. Then the door started ticking as if a turn code was tumbling in the back ground.