Last of Her Kind (Book 1, Part 1, of the LAST series)

allies of the unexpected

I groaned, forcing my eyes open to a stone ceiling.

Was I underground?

I tried sitting up, only to have a sharp pain run up my left side. I quickly clutched it, wincing. Resting my head back down, I tried to steady my breathing. I was only wearing black leggings, while a white bandage was wrapped around my entire torso, chest, and my right shoulder.

Placing my feet on the ground, I forced myself up, looking around at the small room I was in. It was all rock. I could feel the coldness of the ground seeping through my thick socks as I made my way to the wooden door. Pulling it open, there was a hallway to my left and to my right. Torches lit up both ways.

A laugh echoed from my right, so I figured I'd go that way. The longer I walked, the louder the laugh grew. Turning the corner, I saw the back of a man as he was playing fetch with...a chaos?

Maybe I was still unconscious and this was all a dream.

Yeah...must be it.

I watched the chaos wag its tail, its eyes never leaving the man's frame.

I was confused.

I wasn't familiar with chaos. But, with what I did know, this was unlike anything I had heard of.

Growing up, I remembered Jayce telling me about them. How before I was born, they began to appear seemingly out of nowhere and only to attack the realm of Vale. The kingdoms were terrified. The protectors had fought hard to destroy the chaos, but they just continued to multiply. They wouldn't die.

Many lives were lost...mostly elves.

That's all he told me. I once asked him why neither the guardians, nor seraphs, aided the elves, and he just went tense. He said, "it was too much. The protectors couldn't keep up".

I didn't like that answer.

It didn't make sense.

It made me think that the guardians and seraphs didn't care about elves, but that couldn't be true. Right?

But, now, here I stood. Watching a chaos...wag its tail?

I scanned around the room, searching for a weapon.

It was a small area they stood in. It had two, wooden chairs, a wooden table, and a small, wooden counter space. A bowl of fruits sat in the center of the table. In the corner sat a wooden pantry. This looked rarely lived in. But, more importantly, I couldn't see anything to be used as a weapon.

I watched his back as he continued chatting with the creature.

The familiar tingle danced around my left hand when a sharp pain ran up my whole side. I let out a cry, leaning against the wall to steady my dizzying body.

"Easy," said a voice. The guy wrapped his arms around me as he helped me to a chair. "You're still healing, so your powers are taking a lot of your energy. You were hurt pretty badly." He helped me lower into the chair. "You broke your right shoulder, and a few ribs." I stared at him, my eyes traveling over to the chaos staring at me. "He..." continued the guy nudging it, "was suppose to catch you, but failed." The creature huffed, then vanished into black smoke.

I looked back at him, confused. "Wait? You're a cursed child?"

He nodded, sitting across the table from me. "The name's Kaius."

"You murdered my mother...all the elves. You and your...demon creatures," making sure my voice was as cold as I could make it.

He ran a hand through his hair, nervously. Clearing his throat, he sighed. "That wasn't me."