Book of Curses (The Renning Chronicles)

by L. D. Hutchinson

  "Raine stop it!" I felt my head snap up quickly at the sudden voice, blinking a few dozen times I started looking all around. I noticed Tom out of the corner of my eye had stopped his horse and was looking around as well now.

  "Chris?" He ended up calling out at the sky of all things.

  "You heard it too, Tom?"

  "Yeah..." He took in a deep breath, and then looked over at me. His expression held confusion and fear. "That was Christie, right?"

  I nodded my head slowly at him, licking my dry lips before I spoke. "I do believe so."

  "I can see everything you two say!" Christie called again, it sounded like she was screaming actually. "Knock it off!"

  I looked around again for a split moment, till I heard Eyloff in the back let out a soft growl. From there the growl turned into his horse moving in closer to mine, and him laying a hand on my shoulder, trying to get my attention. "What is that?"

  "That is my ex-girlfriend somehow talking to us. What's going on Christie?" Tom told him then called out, his horse was starting to pace in small circles as he looked around about as confused as I was at that moment.

  "Listen, I'm reading that book - Remember?" She asked us, in an uneasy voice. My eyes grew about twice as wide as they normally were, the others moved in closer to me and Tom, but there was just an eerie silence until Talon of all people decided to speak for us.

  "Go on..."

  "There's something coming you guys!" Christie's voice sounded suddenly urgent. "I read it a moment ago, something bad that'll pretty much destroy the world you're in... I don't know what is going on. It said something about a black hole, listen, you need to get to the next area as fast as possible, it's coming and it's coming fast!"

  "Instead of sitting here like ducks, we need to go!" Talon snapped, kicking into his horses sides and riding quickly. Everyone followed after him in a line not even questioning what had just happened. We followed every turn Talon took. That was until Talon suddenly stopped and we followed when we hit a strange ledge, as if the world had just fallen off here and ceased to exist.

  All of the horses started to pace around on their own a little bit, whining loudly as each of them did. Talon let out a sigh then jumped off his horse and looked back at us with bright red eyes ablaze, it was creepy to see. I wasn't sure what had set him off like this, but I didn't want to argue with him no matter what he was about to say. "Get off your horses."

  Following suite I got off my horse, moving quickly over to Nixon and Tom. I followed where they went and watched as the others looked between Talon and us suddenly, then straight up into the air. I let my own eyes follow where they were looking and felt like throwing up anything that was left in my stomach.

  "Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me." I whispered to them. I knew this was the air region, but this just wasn't cool.

  "Not at all." Nixon spoke without an ounce of emotion in his words. It was strange to hear from him, since that was normally Talon's thing.

  I kept staring straight up at the floating building above us in fear and wonder. I felt Tom grab hold of my arm tightly, he was about as disturbed as I was, and I knew it. The whole thing was huge, and literally floating in the middle of the sky. That wasn't something you saw every day, at least not where I was from.

  "The Chosen?" There was a new voice that called out from behind us, I jumped at least a foot and felt every hair on my neck raise as I spun around quickly, nearly falling off the cliff. Nixon grabbed hold of me before I could fall, and when I looked down I almost lost my lunch completely. That was a drop that didn't seem to have an end, just a long black hole that kept going and going.

  "Yes, the chosen..." Talon said, his eyes were on me as he watched me with interest. "How do we get up there now-a-days?"

  "Sadly, we have to send some of the shifter's down, they'll be much more efficient in getting you." The boy said to us, then without any warning wings sprang out from his back. They weren't small either, at least thirteen feet, maybe fourteen feet wide, and pitch black. "I'll send them down in a moment."

  "Alright, make it fast Angel boy." Eyloff growled at him.

  With that the boy nodded his head, turned, and walked off the edge of the cliff we all stood near. My eyes practically bulged out of my eye sockets as I watched him disappear over the edge. Suddenly he came flying back up, wings pressed in around his body and moving fast.

  He went straight up until he was a good twenty feet up, and let his wings snap back open and soared over to the building that hung in the air above. I didn't know whether to believe I'd just witnessed a miracle, or to think that it was the most awesome thing I'd seen in a long time.

  We waited there for maybe three minutes, before the one thing I didn't expect to ever see landed in front of us. I swear, I almost passed out upon seeing it. A dragon landed in front of us, it towered over us all. Bright yellow eyes stared at each one of us, then landed on me and stayed there.

  Spikes were rising on its back, and the tail swished back and forth as if he was waiting for something. His nostrils flared once and then slowly but surely the dragon bowed down. Talon was the first to start forward, saying something to the dragon and then looked back at us.

  "This is our ride, get on." He announced then started to smile wickedly at us. I really couldn't move from where I was standing, and ended up being lifted and carried over to the others. My body was in shock, and well… could you blame me?

  My body was literally passed from Nixon to Talon, and then set onto the scale covered back of the dragon. I was held in place there, though I really don't remember anyone holding onto me. I just remember staring at the back of the Dragon.

  Black scales covered it, though every now and then there was a scale that was silver or iridescent on its back. It wasn't hot to the touch, but actually cool feeling, as if it lacked any fire inside its body. I didn't stop scanning the back until I saw its wings flare up from the sides and start to beat against the air.

  We were lifted off the ground slowly, gaining more speed the higher he went. It didn't take long until we were dropping off the edge and getting more air to soar towards the building. The closer we got to it, the more I realized it wasn't just a building, but almost an entire town sitting in midair.

  I let out a small whimper at some point, feeling myself sliding around on the back of the dragon. Talon held me still, but I stared down at the ground, watching as it grew smaller and farther away from me. My entire body was shaking with fear, and it took all I had not to start shrieking and panicking. I just wanted off, to be on the ground again. That'd be so nice, to have ground under my feet.

  "Raine… You've got to get off now." I heard the faint muttering of Talon snapping me out of my panicked state.

  Looking over I noticed we were on a platform now. It looked like normal ground at first glance, but ground was down there right? So what did that make this exactly? Slowly I slid off of the dragon, and to my amazement watched as it turned into a boy about my age, with long silver hair and bright glowing, yellow eyes.

  I could feel my mouth falling open, but I didn't care. How did that thing turn into a boy? Much less someone around that age? He didn't seem like a dragon, or someone who could turn into one. I had too many questions flying through my head, and couldn't find the words to start any of them.

  "Hello. I'm Ryu." He said in a flat tone, his lips pulled back slowly into a small smile. "Didn't mean to give you a scare, I'm one of the Fire Region's Guardian's."

  "N-Nice to meet you, I'm Raine." I muttered to him, staring at him still. I still couldn't comprehend what I'd just seen. Though, it made more sense to me with him being from the Fire region.

  "Raine, you're going to need to go meet with the King and Queen with your brother, we're going to get situated here and figure things out." Eyloff started, going completely off subject. "You'll be escorted by Trent and Kailen to the King and Queen; oh their names are King Joshua and Queen Lily."

  I began to nod my head slowly, walking over towards Tom
. I let him do the talking from there; he spoke briefly to everyone and then turned to lead me to the doors with him. He looked about as confused as I felt at that moment; I didn't understand half of what was going on, or where we were supposed to go.

  "Do you know what we're to do?" I looked up at him, hoping he did.

  "Don't even ask, I guess we wait?" He mumbled to me, looking down and offering me a small smile.

  "Guess we wait."

  We didn't have to wait there too long though; we were there for maybe five minutes before a tall, thin looking man walked out. He had the darkest eyes I'd ever seen, but they almost looked like they had been molded onto his body. His face was sharp but not too sharp looking. His lips were a thin line across his face; his jaw was set perfectly and not too square, cheek bones not too high or too low.

  His hair clung around his face; it was shaggy but looked amazing on him. It was hanging in his eyes a little bit and curling around his ears that I hadn't noticed till then were pointed. His black hair ended at his shoulders and started to hang forward a little. When I finally looked back to his face he was smiling slowly at us, and then he bowed quickly.

  "Forgive me for taking so long, Trent had to finish a duel, he will be here any moment as well." He began to us, his voice sounded like some sort of beautiful melody hanging in the air. I figured that all this was what made him so lethal, he lured you in and then he killed. "My name is Kailen."

  "Not to be rude but uh..." Tom started to say, cleared his throat and got a confused look on his face as he looked to Kailen. "What are you?"

  "Oh, I'm sorry for not formally speaking." Kailen smiled at Tom, it was more of an apologetic smile. "I am a Fey of the Ice Region; I came here with Vallah. If we were to give you our full names you'd have power over us completely."

  "I see, well then Kai - You don't mind if I call you Kai do you?" Tom asked him again.

  "No not at all."

  "Well Kai, I've never met a Fey. Nice to meet one finally." He told Kailen, smiling a little himself.

  Kailen smiled at him in reply to that, before he began to fix the Knight's outfit he wore. Then his eyes slowly worked their way over to my own and sat there, he looked at me for a long moment before he spoke finally. "You're Raine I do believe? Piece of advice for you both, do not tell Vallah or me your middle names as well, ever. Or we can control you, it's a fey thing."

  "I'll keep it in mind." I said slowly to him, staring at him with an almost wide-eyed childlike stare. "Is that glamour or normal skin going there?"

  "Normal, you know about glamour?" He asked me, slowly cocking his head to the side like a bird would.

  "A little, I read about it." I started to laugh nervously, and then looked anywhere but at him.

  "I see." He spoke in a bemused voice, then turned his head and looked back at the doors where he'd come in. There was a boy walking towards us, his black wings literally vanished from his body as if they weren't real the closer he got, and he shook his head of white blonde hair making some sweat shake out of it. "Glad to see you finally, Trent."

  "Sorry, Rhy's insisted we fight." He frowned at Kai, and then looked from me to Tom smiling in a strange way. "Right, follow me."

  I stepped after him quickly once he started walking, not caring to hesitate a moment longer. Tom briskly followed beside me, and all four of us stayed silent as we walked down the halls of this new palace… one I could've done without going to.

  This place was different from where we'd just come from, the walls were just glass, the floor was made of glass too, and it was almost like the building wasn't even there. I tried my hardest to ignore all of it, and just followed where they went, but every now and then I caught glimpses of the ground below, and sent myself into a panic for a few seconds.

  We walked into the new room without even waiting for permission. The King and Queen sat on their thrones, looking straight at us. Bright blinding white wing's sat upon their backs and they had a strange unearthly glow to them. They looked like a mirage to me, more than they looked like real people.

  The King turned his head to look over at his Queen for a long moment, and then nodded his head at her. She raised her hand and looked at us smiling slowly but sadly, as if she wished we weren't really here. "The Chosen, so glad you've made it this far, but so sad to see you're really in our world." She began to tell us, looking from him to me and back again.

  "The God's have already started their destruction, four of the six regions' no longer exist, and we are next. We've had your Guardian's meet the other ones, we've gathered them all here with you. Kailen and Trent will be staying with you when it happens, and possibly Trent's little sister Kerli, just to make sure you're that much safer." She frowned deeply now, as she looked directly at me for some reason. "Dear, you must know, most of us will not live to see another day."

  "I understand." I told her, looking her straight in the eyes. Her gaze then turned from me to that of Tom's.

  "I understand as well." He spoke to her, nodding his head.

  "Very well, I want you to follow Kailen down to the room we had secured off, we're going to move all the guardian's in with you, and we have sectioned them off already so that half go with you my dear, and half with you boy." She finished up what she had to tell us, and then the King sat up straighter next to her as if to speak.

  Tom nodded his head quickly and then both of us were pulled out of the room by Kailen and Trent. They guided us out towards a hall, we made our way down it for a long time until we finally came to the doors that we needed to find.

  They started to slide the doors open, it took a lot of effort and I was amazed by the strength the two of them possessed. When the door was finally fully open I didn't expect to see what was inside.

  *****

  The room was full to the brim with people. So many people that I couldn't even think of where to begin with them. I guess it never dawned on me how many guardians' we would really have in the end, between the two of us. How many people it was going to be that followed them as well, because they couldn't let them go alone…

  We walked in as slowly as we both could looking around, Kailen began to pull the door shut tightly on his own, until it clicked behind us. Once he was satisfied with it he went ahead of us and stood with the others, Tom and I stared at the group in awe for a long time. I couldn't believe how many people were planning to stay with us, to fight with us.

  "They said to pair off as soon as they're here." Eyloff announced in his agitated voice, killing the silence within the room quickly. He stepped forward and started to look around at the group of people. "What are you waiting for?"

  With that, everyone started to move around. Dolphus was over to me before Eyloff could even get another word out, beaming down at me brightly as always. Fang and Nixon came over as well then Kailen and Trent, the dragon from earlier today showed up as well. Then there were tons of others that I'd never seen before, and I was scared to know who had ended up over with me as well.

  When they were all done there were people still left over standing still. We looked at them, and then Talon let out a sigh from behind Tom, rolling his eyes a little bit at what was going on. "Pair off too."

  Just like that, they did and in the end the total of people we had each was completely insane. I wasn't sure what it meant, or what was going to happen, but I noticed that Tom's group had begun to move to the other side of the room and ours stood still where we all were.

  I accepted it, and waited to see what was going to happen next. Dolphus stepped forward slowly beaming at me from ear to ear still. He cleared his throat almost a second later and began to speak to me, looking around a little as he did. "I'm sure you want introductions?"

  "Of course."

  "Very well then!" He said to me, in his happy voice. I rolled my eyes a little and smiled at him. "We're gonna name off who you know too so everyone knows each other here."

  Staying silent, I watched as Dolphus carelessly walked into the group of us holding up a hand and g
aining the attention of every last one of them. He proceeded to point randomly at people and started naming off names and regions that each of them had come from, trying to let me have a moment to remember anyone who was new. "That's Nixon Lane, Dhampire, Dark Region, one of the youngest Guardian's to step foot into this mess."

  His direction changed quickly, pointing next to him as fast as he could, frowning at Fang. "That's Fang, Half-demon, and Dark Region, generally has a bad attitude so you'll want to watch yourself with him. I'm Dolphus, I'm a werewolf and I'm of the Earth Region, and what you see is what you get. That's Nickel, he's a demon, he's from the dark region and he's completely and totally off the market." Dolphus announced, winking at Nickel as he said it.

  "This is Kailen, or as I like to call him Kai. He is a Fey of the Ice Region, quick to help usually, but at the same time tends to keep to himself about most things. That's Trent, he's from the Air Region, he's of course a Nephilim, and he's one of the palace guards, he loves to help protect." Taking in a deep breath he looked back at me smiling a little bit, and then started naming off names again.