Fragments of a Past

Chapter four

- Ouch! You don't need to be so aggressive, Hiisi says looking behind him.
- Sorry man, Kone responds, continuing to braid Hiisi's hair.
Hella and Mana are sitting beside the two, Hella looks at Mana.
- Hey can I braid your hair? She asks him.
- No, Mana says straight.
- But it would look so cool! She whines.
- Absolutely not! Mana says sternly looking back at her.
- Why did we even agree to this? Hiisi asks Kone.
- I thought it would look cool! Kone responds, laughing a little.
They're all at Hiisi's lagoon, it's been a gathering spot for them for quite a while. It's calm and quiet, the only sound is the water.

Hella bumps Kone softly with her elbow to get his attention, he looks at her to see what she wants. She pulls out something from her pocket, it's a bunch of pastel purple bows. They both look at each other, knowing what they're both thinking. They smile at each other and begin the process.
Hiisi notices giggles behind his back, he starts to get suspicious about what the two are doing behind him.
- What are you doing? He asks.
- N-Nothing! Hella snickers.
Hiisi knows by now that they're definitely doing something he won't like.
They sit there for a few minutes until Hella and Kone are done putting the bows at the end of Hiisi's braids.
- Aaand done! Kone says letting go of the braids.
- What did you two do? Hiisi asks sighing.
He gets a hold of his long hair and looks at it.
- What the fuck?! Hiisi says in shock.
Kone and Hella laugh at his reaction, Mana looks over and laughs as well.
- You look so cute! Hella says still laughing.
Hiisi tries to get one of the bows out of his hair but Kone stops him.
- Hey if you take it out you won't have any locks! Kone tells him.
- Fine, Hiisi responds, letting go of the braid.
Hiisi looks at the bows for a moment, thinking about it.
- You know what, he says. It does suit me pretty well.
They all laugh at it, but their joy is interrupted by gunshots echoing trough the forest.
They all look towards the trees in terror. They hear some birds up in the sky, fleeing from the sounds.
- What the hell was that?! Hella whispers in fear.
More shots are heard, louder then before.
All of them start to have a bad feeling about the situation, but Mana feels like he knows what has happened.
- Come on, let's go! Mana says sternly to the test of them.
They all look at him with terrified expressions, like they're all asking him if he's insane.
But even if they don't want to follow Mana they still do.
All of them run into the forest towards the sounds.

Three people are walking through a dense forest, all of them have black cloaks on them with their hoods up. They stop when they hear footsteps on their left. They all look in the direction of the noice, and from the bushes, out walks three more people with the same cloaks as them.
One of them takes their hood off and looks at the other three.
- Simone?! He asks one of the other people.
They take off their hood and look at him.
- Jack?! She responds.
They both run to each other, embracing each other in a hug.
- I wasn't expecting to see you here! Jack says, separating their hug.
- Same bro! Simone responds, bumping her fist at his arm.
- Sorry guys but we have to hurry, another of the hooded people say to the two.
- You're right, Simone responds. Let's go guys!
The third person from the group takes off her hood and looks at the third person from the other group.
- You're the new guy, aren't you? She asks.
He takes off his hood and looks at her.
- Umm, yeah? He says nervously.
- Nice! She responds. I'm Nora!
He stays quiet for a moment, looking at the ground.
- I'm Nick, he tells her.
- Nice name! She says. We're the same rank, you know.
He looks back up at her.
- Really? He asks her.
- Yeah, but I can help you with stuff like that later when we're done with the meeting, she says.
- Thanks Nora!
She looks at him and smiles, he smiles back at her.
The six of them enter a plain part of the woods, formed like a circle, fifteen other hooded people are standing in a circle, waiting for them.
- Good you're here, one of them tells the six of them.
- Yes chief, Jack says and puts his hood up.
- Ok, then, the same person says.
They take off their hood and walks closer to the middle of the circle.
- Now... I've heard it's gone well for many of you, they say, looking around.
All of them nod.
- So! I'm gonna need to collect all of them from you, they say smirking.
- Lewis, they say to one of the hooded people. Go collect the fragments.
Lewis goes up to one of the hooded people and puts out his hand. The person shakes, even being in a high rank they still shakes in fear because of Lewis's big and muscular stature. They pulls five shards of something out of their pocket and gives them to Lewis. He moves onto the next person of a high rank and repeats this with all of them. He goes up to the chief and gives all of the pieces to them. A big smile creeps onto their face.
- Ok, let's start talking about the new schedule, they tell the others. They were gonna continue but got interrupted by gunshots.
All of the hooded people look in the direction of the sound, the only one not faced was Lewis, he slowly turned around, his face not showing a single sign of fear or worry.
The chief wrinkles their nose in anger and scoffs.
- Let's get out of here, they say and starts to run in the opposite direction of the noice.
The rest of them follow the chief and run into the dense forest, not to be seen by anyone.

- DAMN IT!! Mr. Lordi yells and swipes all of the papers off of his desk. The papers fly all over his room, some landing on the floor and some landing in the trash.
He pomfs onto the desk, his forehead hitting the table hard. A muffled yell escapes him from frustration.
He looks to the left, observing the mess he's made. But something catches his eye.
A certain date is shown on one of the newspapers, the same date as today. He leans to the side to be able to reach the newspaper, he picks it up and looks at the front page.
The newspaper is really old, the paper has turned yellow from age, it's brittle as a leaf.
- Hooded men found in the Grove forest, he reads to himself.
The newspaper talks about how another encounter of the hooded men in the Grove forest and how it's been happening every year the same day.
Mr. Lordi stands up from his chair with such force that the chair he sat on gets knocked down.
'I might be able to stop them' he thinks to himself.
He checks the clock, it's 15:07.
- I still have time, he mumbles.
He closes his eyes to concentrate and teleports to the Grove forest.

Mr. Lordi looks over the dense forest from a high cliff.
The forest has a beautiful orange, red and yellow color to it. So quiet, so peaceful, but it hides a dark past.
'I shouldn't walk trough the forest because I'll get lost' he thinks to himself 'but teleporting won't work either, and it drains too much energy...'
He stands there, thinking for a bit.
'I could fly over the forest and scout them out' he thinks, smiling to himself.
He spreads his wings, flaps them once and flies off.

- So, why are we going to Grove forest again? One of the policemen asked the other.
- There were some people who reported seeing a creature flying over the forest, he responds. They said they were gonna need backup for this one, and to shoot the creature down.
- But what if the creature isn't dangerous? He asks him.
- Just follow the orders, don't make this difficult, he tells him.
They sit quietly in the police car, on their way to the hiking track beside the Grove forest. The trail of police cars get to the spot where the first police car is waiting, the people who reported the situation are safely inside the police car, for their own protection.
One of the policemen gets out of their car and approaches the policeman who asked for backup.
He turns around to look at the other cop.
- You brought the long range weapons? He asks.
- Just like you ordered, he responds.
They both turn to look at the other policemen who are setting up the weapons.
- Do you see the creature over there? He asks the other policeman.
The cop looks around and spots a winged being flying over the trees.
- Yeah... he says. But it looks quite human, doesn't it?
- Not human enough, he responds.
The other cop looks at him a little worried, not sure if shooting it down is a good idea.
- Are you sure about this? He asks him.
- This thing could be dangerous, he says sternly. We don't know what it's capable of.
Both of them look back at the creature.
- It's better to keep people safe than letting it live, he continues.
- I... I guess you're right, the other policeman responds.
The other cops have installed the longe range weapons and are waiting for commands.
- Line them up! The policeman yells at the rest.
They line them up with the being, waiting for the next command.
- Fire! The policeman yells.
One after another shoot at the creature, the sounds of the shots echoing through the area.

Mr. Lordi flies over the dense Grove forest, trying to get a glimpse of a cult member. The forest is big and it'll take a lot of time to cover just a bit of ground.
- Where the fuck could you be... he whispers to himself.
He continues looking as he flies higher over the forest.
Suddenly he hears an ear piercing sound, just half a second later he feels something small fly fast behind his head, the force of the thing making him shiver.
He looks around, trying to see where it came from.
Right at that moment something hits his wing, tearing it. He looks at his wing to see a big gaping hole in it, the reality of the situation sets in. Another bullet hits his other wing, tearing it too. The force of the bullets knocks him back. He tries to get his balance back, but another bullet hits his wing again. A few other bullets fly past him, but he feels the force of every one of them.
He tries to keep himself in the air, but while he concentrates on that a sharp pain in his arm distracts him. It's another bullet.
More hit his wings, he tries to flap them harder, trying not to fall.
He feels a sudden stinging pain in his side, another bullet. Right after that a bullet hits his thigh, blood starts to drip from the bullet wounds.
More bullets are shot at his wings, ripping them to shreds.
His worst fear comes true, he can't keep himself up.

He feels the wind hit him as he falls to the ground.
It feels like everything is moving in slow motion, he still hears the booming sound of the guns as he falls.
He's felt this feeling before, the feeling of falling.
It reminds him of something.
Something in his past.
He hits a tree branch, it breaks on impact. He hits a few more, they all break when he lands on them.
He doesn't know when he'll hit the ground, but one part of him is hoping he'll fall forever.
Suddenly he feels a bodyshocking pain hit him, then everything goes black.