Cycle of the Chosen

2

Isabella was working in downtown Tansy inside the best bakery in the area. She was in the middle of serving Wilbur and his little brother, Tommy, when her phone began to ring. Niki, the owner of the bakery, told her to take the call while she covered for her. Isabella smiled and nodded, walking to the back of the shop and pulling out her phone. Everything seemed to move in slow motion once she looked at the caller ID. Who would want to receive a call from the local hospital?

“Hello?” Isabella greeted as she put the phone up to her ear, her heart beating faster than the ticking timer for the bread that was in the oven.

"Hello. Is this Isabella Schlatt?" A heavily accented Irish woman's voice asked.

"This is she, is everything alright?" Isa asked the operator.

"This is about your brother, Jay Schlatt. He was recently brought in by a man by the name of Dream Taken. It appears your brother has had a heart attack."

"What?" Isabella's voice cracked in disbelief.

"We are very sorry. We did everything we could but he did not make it."

"W-what!?" Isabella all but shouted in a broken voice, tears filling her eyes.

"Again, we are sorry for your loss." The operator repeated.

"T-thanks. Uh. Goodbye." Isabella mumbled, hanging up and standing there for a few moments. Niki had been the one to break her from her unmoving state by placing a gentle hand on Isabella's shoulder.

"Isa? What happened?" The soft German voice asked, rubbing the girl's arm in an attempt to comfort her.

Isabella looked at her boss, her friend, before she broke down into sobs, unable to form coherent words. Niki didn't mind, she had put her brother, Eret, on Isa’s shift so she had time. Her friend was more important anyway. It took a good 45 minutes before Isabella managed to tell Niki what was happening.

After that, Isabella stayed at Niki's house instead for the following month. In that time, the villain Dionysus had been pronounced dead. Isa had yet to visit her apartment, much rather preferring the comfort of Niki's home over the memories that plagued her mind while at her own place. She knew, however, that she soon had to return.

Tuesday, May 17th, was the day she returned home, the smell of alcohol still permeating the apartment. Isabella went straight to her brother's room, looking to grab all of the remaining bottles in the apartment. A black colored cardboard box caught the attention of Isabella. She dropped down onto her knees, pulled the box closer to her, and began pulling items from it. The majority of the items were normal things, a couple of clothes, and some Polaroids of her brother with people she didn’t recognize. Under the clothes was something leather that caught her attention.

“Since when did Jay own leather?” Isabella asked herself aloud, pulling it out of the box and spreading it out so she could see it fully.
That was when things seemed to click. The red-colored leather suit with a matching mask was the same one that Dionysus wore. Jay died, then it was announced that Dionysus died. She tore her eyes from the leather suit to the Polaroids. Dropping the suit into her lap and picking it up. Her eyes scanned the faces of the people in the picture, she didn’t recognize any of them. Isabella flipped the photo over where words were written in her brother's handwriting.

‘Dream said taking a photo was stupid now he wants to fight me for it.’ Under that was, ‘The Best Villains around.’ The signature of each of them was on the back as well. She took a deep breath, standing up and putting everything but the polaroid back. Isabella pulled her phone out as she sped walked out of the apartment and down the steps, calling Wilbur. She made it out of the building, walking down the street towards the bakery she works at.

“Come on, Wilbur! Pick up!” Isabella mumbled to herself, looking behind her to see a tall blonde tailing her. She sped up her walking as she tried to call Niki. In her peripheral vision, she could see a short brunette with white-rimmed glasses and black lenses join the tall blonde.

Isabella gave up trying to call anyone, picking up her pace into a full sprint. She ran into a hard wall of a man who had a white bandana on. He grabbed her arms to keep her from moving, narrowing his eyes that were brown with a faint orange tint and looked like fire danced in them. The other two that had been trailing her, caught up and nodded to each other before the world went dark.