The Seed of Hope

Chapter 39: The Stolen Throne

-"One single file line!! One single file!!"- A man's voice rang over the massive crowd of people. Their heavy black uniforms intimidated the civilians as Leena tried her best to not push anyone and feed onto the chaos.

Kirya has been a disaster ever since the Great Shift. Food was scarce and illnesses were rampant. The small island is an example of what is like in the rest of the world. Disorder.

Leena finally made it to the front of the line only to be given just a newspaper. -"We're all out of meals! Everyone back off!!"-

-"What? How?"- Leena teared up.

-"Move back, ma'am!"- The military personnel pushed her back.
-"I haven't eaten in days, sir, please!"- She begged and so did the rest of the line who was now pushing forward aggressively.

-"Stand back!!"- The enforcers with rifles began shooting up in the air to disperse the crowd.

Leena ran, hugging the newspaper for dear life. She ran until she got home, not before stumbling and scraping her shin and knee on the wooden stairs that led to the front door. After regaining her balance, she ran in, slammed the door, and locked it. The windows were boarded up, glass was broken as if people attempted to break in. There was no electricity and tap water was non-existent.
Leena collapsed on the floor, tired, hungry, and defeated. She cried loudly at the misery she and her people were forced to live through.

After some time, the sunset rays peeked through the boards, shining on her face, and waking her up. She wiped the dry streaks of tears on her face before grabbing the newspaper and sitting down against the door, ignoring the stinging pain of her bloody legs that now stained the floor.

The first article on the front cover was a picture of Kate, helping the people in need in the town of Keya. Her face was dull with a permanent expression of sadness and anger stitched to it. The bags under her eyes seemed more prominent than ever before. God knows how much she has seen and gone through while being gone.

-"My baby..."- Leena teared up again. She was somewhat relieved to see Kate alive and helping others in need, but she thought Kate would only go to Zamcain, Why in the world was she in Keya so many miles away? Then again, this was an old issue, travel has been restricted lately, which is why aid ships are so limited and they come every few days. So many things could have happened that led to her being in other villages and towns.

-"God Elohim, protect my babies, protect her friends, and protect us from harm..."- Leena prayed.

-"God Yenziel, protector of the weak, watch over Katerina, and show her the path to righteousness."-

She tightly hugged the paper, rubbing the dusty ink on her clothing. New tears streamed down her cheek.
-"Help us, in these dark times."-

_______________________________________~_____________________________________

Up in the mountains of Vindúr, overlooking the capital of Luelin Khan, Bassilisk pondered what he should do. It's only him and Moloch after all. There are very few options in what he could do.

-"Bassilisk..."- Moloch approached their hideout, a small fortress in the snowy mountains. Bassilisk noticed the absence of the title of "Lord" before his name.

-"What happened to formalities, Moloch? Should I take out your other eye?"-

Moloch approached the silver-haired man, an eye patch on his left eye.

-"My apologies, my Lord..."-

-"Anything that I should know about?"- Bassilisk held his anxious hands behind his back.

-"No, sir...All I heard was the Seed crossing the Bás Frontier a few days ago."-

-"She's fast..."- Bassilisk held his chin with his knuckle.

-"Sounds to me like you are losing it..."- A familiar voice rang from behind, startling them.

Logan stood behind them, his hood partially covering his face.
Moloch didn't hesitate and slammed and pinned Logan against the decayed stone wall. -"What the fuck are you doing here!!?"-

Logan chuckled, -"What are you so afraid of, Moloch?"- His amber eyes stared up at Moloch in a condescending manner.

-"Don't let him go, Moloch."- Bassilisk stomped toward the pinned redhead. -"It's all because of you! I'm going kill you right here and now!!"-

-"Go ahead, try me."- Logan's eyes shimmered in anticipation, causing Bassilisk to halt as a familiar scene played before him. His anger grew but he knew he wasn't strong enough to kill him. Indeed he created a monster. Bassilisk shouted in frustration as he punched the wall next to Logan's head, crumbling it.

-"What do you want!? What could you possibly want!?"- Bassilisk raked through his hair with his shaking fingers. -"You survived the sealing and now you come back for more? Is it just to spite me?"-

-"I just have questions that need answering before I go any further..."-

Bassilisk narrowed his eyes, confused as to what Logan said. -"Any further with what?"-

Logan stared at Bassilisik, knowing exactly how to answer that but biting his tongue.

-"Tch."- Bassilisk exhaled, frustrated and somewhat, frightened.