A Time To Survive (Verge of Extinction): A Magical & Monstrous / Supernatural Urban Fantasy.

by J. Axbridge

  “Oh come on, make this quick,” Mayumi yawned. “I have been quiet so far, but we do need to learn more than just who is in your family tree.”

  Ignoring Mayumi’s comment the Elder Werewolf looked to Ethan and continued on, “On your father’s side, it was your grandfather who was a werewolf and as fate may have it, also married a human and together they had one son who had werewolf blood running through his veins.

  “Those two unlikely, unknowing children, your mom and your dad met at a young age, fell in love and married as Arthur so eloquently pointed out. Of course no one was the wiser to a union of two mixed blood lines but all the same, they carried the genes that if they had children, they could potentially produce fairies, werewolves or even pure humans. Now everyone here in this room knows the result of their marriage, 5 children — 3 werewolves and 2 fairies.”

  “I still don’t understand why humans would slaughter fairies? They weren’t dangerous, were they? Are we?” Asked Caelyn concerned.

  “No, you’re definitely not dangerous to humans, and the fairies before you did not pose any threat. Fairies in general were a kind and gentle race, just naïve . . . Against the advice of werewolves they befriended humans, but humans did not understand them and only feared them to be evil spirits as time went on as rumors of their evilness were spread by vampires and witches worldwide.

  “The vampires capitalized on this irrational human fear and helped wipe the fairies from the earth as I already told you,” the Elder Werewolf leaned back against the wall tired and in obvious torment. “Imagine humans and vampires working together, those were not good days . . . Nope, vampires never had love for fairies and when it comes to fairy twins, I believe they will bring in every vampire and witch they can find to fight beside them to once again rid the earth of your kind.”

  “They’re coming after us too, but you said —?”

  “They will come after you, but only after they realize who you are,” The Elder cut Victoria off, “because you two could change the course of a battle with them, you two have the ability to be stronger than you could ever imagine. And if you ever reproduced. . .”

  “REPRODUCED!” The twins shouted in embarrassment.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ethan cringe before raising his hand, “Excuse me Elder Al, not to change the subject, but since we’re talking about the past, you never did say how you met us before?” All heads turned his way. “Well he never did explain.” He bashfully added.

  “No, I guess I haven’t explained that yet, you’re right young man. You’ve traveled a long ways and deserve to know the truth,” the Elder Werewolf acknowledged Ethan then gently sat down taking a drink of his homemade lemonade. “Do you really want to hear this; I’ve told you so much already, you must be tired of my stories?”

  “Please, we need to know the history, the more we know the better it is for all of us,” Jax said clearly exhausted yet eager to learn all he could to aid us in our fight against the evil out there.

  The Elder Werewolf sat in silence a moment before beginning, “There were eight Elder Werewolves across the USA and we were separated into areas by time zone and then north and south. My area before my current location was the Eastern Time Zone Northern Territories, now I’m in charge of the Central Time Zone Northern Territories. It’s my responsibility to initiate all the newly born werewolves into my territory pack with an ancient ritual dating back thousands of years. You five and Jax here were born in my territory of protection at the time. Therefore young man, I saw you all when you were mere babies and I have met your parents also. I am surprised the book directed you here though, sadly that means the Elder from the Eastern Time Zone Northern Territories has more than likely passed.”

  “But you said the two of us are fairies, not werewolves,” Caelyn asked, confused.

  “At your birth we did not know for sure. As you grew we believed you had magical abilities and suspected you two were very special and inherited the fairy lineage. You see, it is a rare occurrence, but possible to have two different types of lineages in one family, and in your case it has created a strong family bond that has never been seen before. It also now seems that it is your unique bond that was foretold in the Fairy Prophecy.”

  “Fairy Prophecy? All this can’t really be true?” Arthur stretched his bare arms above his head apparently still unwilling to accept the Elder’s story. “It’s just so unbelievable. It’s like something out of some teen fiction novel,” Arthur stood up and paced, stretching his body as he moved about.

  “But it is true Arthur, this is not some kids book, it’s your life and now you know the real truth about the real world which had been blind to all of you until the storms.” The Elder Werewolf leaned back in his chair, his eyes slowly glossing over with a look of exhaustion.

  “One last thing,” He tilted forward leaning his elbows on the table and his weary head on his fists, “your parents did know they were part of rare lineages when they were younger but never accepted that fact, it was just a piece of exaggerated genetic history to them. That is until you five were born. Of course I showing up at their doorstep to bring you into the community made them realize they had to face the truth sooner or later of who they were and who you five were to become. . . You two,” the Elder Werewolf looked at Victoria then Caelyn, sitting tall in his chair resting his arms in front of him on the table now.

  “I’m sorry no one realized you were twin fairies until you were older. Unfortunate as it is, there are no fairies left to help you learn the ropes as I’ve explained to you already, so we’ll have to ‘Wing It’,” the Elder Wolf chuckled at his joke as the rest of us sat silently not sure whether to laugh along or not.

  Then for no reason at all, the craziness we’d been told since we’d arrived at the Elder’s cabin flashed through my head and combined with what had happened to us since the storms started, a strange sensation took over my body, I suddenly couldn’t contain myself and snorted, and then began to laugh uncontrollably.

  “What’s so funny Addie?” Arthur asked. “What’s the joke . . . come on, let us in on it.”

  “It just hit me,” I bit my lip barely able to speak through gasps of raw laughter, “that not so long ago I was just a simple high school girl, enjoying my junior year, and working - part time - as a waitress.” I took a deep breath trying to contain my unwarranted laughing, as my body released the pent up stress it had accumulated. Taking a deep breath, I began again, “Now, I’m some super werewolf who has to kill vampires’ like that old vampire TV show.” I smiled while the group just stared at me with expressionless faces. “Really, doesn’t anyone else find this even slightly hilarious . . . On top of all that, my best friend is some secret super hero, ninja chic. I love it! It’s crazy but I freaking love it! ” I began laughing once again, tension and nervousness streaming out of my tired body with each uncontrollable wheeze.

  “I think she’s lost it,” Ethan shook his head smirking as the twins cracked smiles nodding in agreement.

  Suddenly Mayumi’s face burst, spitting her lemonade across the table she began the deepest belly laugh I’d ever seen her have, in doing so causing the whole table to erupt. Arthur was bent over at the knees laughing; his face red, even Jax’s usually stone facial features broke with amusement, as tears of laughter began to stroll down the twins cheeks. Laughing was something we’d all sorely missed in this new world and it was showing in this moment.

  “KIDS! THIS IS ALL TRUE!” The Elder slammed his fists on the table shaking the jelly jars in front of each of us, “YOU’RE ALL HERE AREN’T YOU. THIS IS NO LAUGHING MATTER AND ALL YOUR LIVES ARE IN DANGER!” He yelled, irritated by the casual and lightheartedness our conversation had suddenly taken.

  Arthur’s laughing all but stopped as he gently massaged his watery eyes, “Like our lives haven’t been in danger since the showers?” He scoffed.

  “Kids, I understand everything I’ve explained to you is shocking and seems unbelievable but . . . I can prove what I’ve told you qu
ite easily,” the Elder sighed gazing at the dusty floor taking deep breaths of calm before meeting our eyes. “As the Fairy Prophecy has foretold, the five siblings, known as the GOKA-SYMJIN, have unique markings on them.”

  Caelyn timidly raised her right hand, clearly afraid the Elder Wolf was going to scold her for having a question.

  “Yes Caelyn, speak up child.”

  “Well…I’ve heard that strange word before, the one you said the siblings were called. Actually we’ve all heard that strange word.” She said nervously.

  “Goka-SymJin — Impossible.” The Elder looked at Caelyn with interest, “Where could you possibly hear that word?” Waving her off, he scorned. “No more joking! No one living in the human world could possibly know of such a word.”

  Caelyn shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Umm . . . , well, that’s not really true. Victoria, Ethan and me were at this skyscraper out in the water and saw all these vampires living there and we met this doctor who helped us escape. Then when we met Adelaide on the beach I think the doctor said the head vampire was searching for the ‘SymJin’ . . . yes . . . I swear he said the word ‘SymJin’, I didn’t hear the Goka part though. . . And then some crazy vampire kept yelling that same word, ‘SymJin’ when we were hiding in the maze, he wanted the ‘SymJin’.”

  “She’s right! Caelyn’s a word nerd and she never forgets a new word she’s heard.” Victory spoke up in her twin’s defense.

  Realization setting in hearing that someone, especially a vampire was actually searching for the mythical “SymJin,” caused the Elder Wolf’s eyes to grow large with surprise, before they turned to shock, then eventually fear taking them over. By the looks of worry crisscrossing his face, the Elder apparently knew we were in trouble and sighed deeply.

  “Please clarify young lady; you did say, ‘a vampire’ was looking for the SymJin, is that correct?”

  “Yes, that’s what the doctor said,” Caelyn answered quickly staring down at the table.

  “Who is this crazed vampire, did you catch his name?” The Elder asked, standing large with sudden vigor, a concerned expression on his ageing face.

  I intercepted the question seeing how nervous Caelyn was becoming, “I don’t believe he said his name at all,” I said, bringing the Elder’s full attention to myself.

  “Actually, the doctor did say his name Addie,” Ethan blurted out, “It was Lou or Liam or something like that? Definitely started with an ‘L’, I can’t believe ‘word nerd’ can’t remember it.”

  “Was it Lawrence? DID HE SAY HIS NAME WAS ‘LAWRENCE’?” The Elder shouted with disgust in his voice that I didn’t think was possible.

  “Actually, I think it was ‘Law’. . . That’s it; the doctor said his name was, ‘Law’. Is that the same name?” Ethan answered, unfazed by the Elders growing concern.

  “That explains that ‘Law Territory,’ we traveled through forever ago.” Arthur quipped.

  “Law is a nickname for, ‘Lawrence’, Lawrence Karayan to be precise, and if he’s alive and looking for the GoKa-SymJin, then we’re all at risk here,” the Elder Wolf looked out the lone dusty window in thought. “Kids, this situation is even graver than I thought! What you’ve told me is not good news. This, ‘Law’ vampire was supposed to have died years ago. It was your great grandmother that was to have killed him in battle.” He said pacing back and forth his cane banging loudly with each step.

  “Lawrence Karayan is only the meanest, the smartest and the most cunning vampire or creature I’d ever run into and surely knowing you five are alive, he’s on his way here this moment—I should have realized it was possible he was leading this resurgence of vampires. I guess I never wanted to believe that such an evil creature was still out there living among us . . . well, not exactly living I suppose.” Worry was plastered over the elder’s aging face.

  “Whoa, hold up there Al, what the hell is a ‘SymJin’ or ‘Goka-SymJin’?” Arthur asked, turning his head towards the Elder before he sat down at the table and began rapping his fingers on the tabletop, his eyes never wavering from the Elder Werewolf.

  “It’s rather simple Arthur;” The Elder stated in a hurried tone. “A SymJin is a ‘Symbol Person’ as this word is a mixture of English and Japanese,” He nodded towards Mayumi, “It is a person who carries a symbol or mark upon them distinguishing themselves as one with special abilities or powers. Depending on the person each power could be different even if they’re of the same family. The Goka part is also Japanese, ‘Go’ meaning five in Japanese and the ‘ka’ being short for kazoku or family. So the Goka-SymJin is the foretold five family members who possess symbols that would bring down the reign of the vampires in the Fairy Prophecy,” the Elder Werewolf anxiously explained. “You five are the Goka-SymJin!”

  “But we’re not marked, not that I’ve ever seen. Have any of you ever seen a mark or symbol on your body?” Arthur asked, looking around.

  “You are marked, and distinctly at that. All of you are,” the Elder said authoritatively.

  “Why didn’t that vampire just kill the twins and Ethan when they were at his hideout? Why let them leave alive?” Jax asked; breaking his silent thought and joining the conversation around the table.

  “That Mr. Morgan is a good question. He may believe the twins are strong or maybe he wanted all five SymJin together. No matter, we do not know his plans or motives. It would be good if he believes they’re strong though, that would give us a little time to prepare since he wouldn’t attack until he had strength in his favor . . .” He turned to my family, “If on the other hand he was simply using you five to lead him to the ‘Book of Symbols’ he may have let the twins go in hope they’d go straight to it.”

  The Elder faced Mayumi whose eyes were now wide with suspicion as she stared at him mouth agape, “Yes, that’s the book you mentioned earlier Huntra. I’m sorry I lied to you but until I’d just found out Lawrence Karayan was alive, that book needed to stay a secret and stay hidden away from humanity. But if that book is his objective then that’s the biggest problem we now face. It would mean he knows its power and wants it . . . , and we can’t let him have it, even if it means our death! For now it is well hidden and I dread bringing it back into the open but you will need it to destroy Lawrence Karayan. It will explain all you need to know about your symbols.”

  “So it is real.” Mayumi uttered. “I knew it!”

  “I’m afraid so Huntra. The book does exist.”

  “Can he track us this far?” Mayumi stretched her arms above her head, and then cracked her neck left than right releasing pressure and tension all at once as if preparing for a fight. “I’m a good tracker and we took many precautions coming here in order to hide our tracks.”

  “This vampire is different, he does not need physical tracks, he can sense powers that each of the Allisters’ posses, and as their powers grow it’s easier for him to search them out, therefore Miss Gushiken, he could track you even if you took the best of precautions.”

  Immediately after the Elder Wolf finished his sentence the front door burst open with a crash, rattling the walls inside the cabin. Three young men ran in panting and sweating from head to toe. “Grandsons, what is it?” The Elder Wolf said in surprise.

  The Elder Wolf’s three great grandsons stood in tan shorts with hatchets hanging from their waist, none wearing shirts. The first two who entered had lean, tanned and toned bodies and looked to be models taken straight from the mall. The last to enter was much bigger; his body more solid, bulging with muscles, but still had a mall model quality about him. Each looked extremely fatigued as they bent over breathing heavily.

  “Shawn, tell me, what is wrong?” The Elder spoke to the biggest of the three.

  “Grandfather . . . , it’s the vampires . . . , they’re headed this way with large numbers, you can’t stay here much longer, it’s not safe! We must all go right now,” said Shawn, the eldest and largest of his three great grandsons, easily standing over six feet tall.

  “How far
away are they?”

  “Less than a day’s walk to the bridge, could be much sooner if they picked up their pace.”

  “They won’t Shawn, Karayan will take precautions and prepare for us,” the Elder Wolf rubbed his chin in thought, devising a plan. “Peter and Thomas, go be look outs at the bridge, signal when they are near. Shawn, we need you here to prepare the Allisters’ for their journey.”

  Without a word Peter and Thomas sprinted out the front door, their lean, agile frames disappearing into the forest heading to the bridge as instructed by their grandfather.

  “Prepare us for what, our death? How are we going to get out of here, we’re trapped once they start crossing that bridge. We need to leave already.” Arthur looked at me for agreement.

  “Kids,” The Elder smiled slyly, “do you think I would trap myself on top of a mountain like this without another way to get down? There is a tunnel under that trap door in the floor. It will take you down the mountain on the inside; Karayan won’t be able to sense your getaway in there.”

  “Now that sounds like a plan, let’s go,” Arthur eagerly grabbed his pack.

  “Umm grandfather,” Shawn said hesitantly. “We can’t take the tunnels; they were damaged in the showers, remember?”

  “Meteors got through, how?” The Elder Wolf thought a moment. “Does not matter, we must go to escape plan three.”

  “There’s an escape plan three?” Ethan gasped. “This has to be good.”

  “Young wolf, this has been my home for years and there are a variety of ways to get off this rock. Of course if you’ve never been here before you only see the bridge. You must think deeper and consider the elements if you are to discover the other ways of getting away from here quickly and safely.”

  “I probably don’t want to hear this,” Arthur blurted out as Mayumi paused to pat him on the shoulder before continuing her stretching, cracking every part of her overly fit body.