Ivory Chronicles

Act IV - Apex Rebellion Part 10

End of The Beginning

Every morning felt surreal like I was living in a different dimension. The house was quiet and lonely, each sound I made echoing through the silence. It even seemed darker, as if reflecting the gloom that had settled over it since Annabella locked herself away in her room three weeks ago. I tried talking to her, even opening the door, but it felt like it had been glued shut. I knew she was still there, still alive, because I heard her whimpers every night.

Each day, I made my two boiled eggs, waiting for Annabella to come down and make her usual snarky comments before whipping up a proper breakfast for us. Every day, I waited until I heard the eggs pop, which jolted me back to reality. She wasn't coming down. It was time to change and head to the hospital to see Kyriah.

Kyriah came and went, but mostly she just rested, her body needing time to recover. Her abilities, unlike others with Clemons Cells, seemed to erase everything abnormal from her body, making her as normal as they come. No super strength, no super healing. Just like I am now, as my ice powers and strength haven't come back at all since I was also hit with her erasure energy.

I had reached out to Yelena's and Fabian's families, informing them of their deaths. Ivory, in a rare moment of decency, had told them before she disappeared. Yelena's family mourned her deeply, but Fabian's family seemed indifferent, continuing their lives as if nothing had changed. Because I never really knew the real them, I couldn't understand their relationships with their families or how having Clemons Cells might have affected them. I wondered if that was why Fabian's family didn't mourn him. I wished I could have given him the chance to discover who he really was. Maybe then I could have gone to his family and shared good memories of him, but I never truly knew the real him.

Everyone else from The Sunspears had returned to whatever lives they had before Ivory stripped them away. For most, it wouldn't be easy, but they were the strongest people I knew. They wouldn't give up.

Ryan had called me frequently in the first days, but he confessed that he befriended me because Ivory told him to. Even my best friend was a lie. That was when I asked for some space. I needed to figure out what I was going to do with my life, to differentiate the reality of my life from my given purpose. Was I going to be Annabella's protector forever, or could I choose my own destiny? If Annabella died, would I die too? But right now, Annie was lost, and Kyriah was recovering. Did I have to wait for one of them to recover to know my destiny? These thoughts cycled through my mind daily, as if it was trying to force me to choose a path.

After changing my clothes and freshening up, I passed by Annabella's room one more time and knocked on her door to let her know I was going out. This time, I wanted to ask her to come with me. "Annie... I would really like for you to come with me to the hospital. Kyriah would appreciate it too, to know you're alive and safe..." Seconds passed with no answer.

I tried to force the door open. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" she yelled as the house shook violently for a moment, then stopped abruptly. Fear gripped me, I didn't dare push further, remembering how she had killed our, well... her parents. I let go of the knob and left the cluttered house behind me.

Life had become so monotonous lately that I wasn't even aware of the drive to the hospital. One moment, I was lost in my thoughts, and the next, I found myself standing in front of Kyriah's room. The sound of rumbling voices inside snapped me back to reality.

When I entered, I found Cristofer and the remnants of his group, Owen, Daniella, and Liam, who now had a stump where his left arm used to be. There was also a small, pale girl between them, very close to Cristofer. She looked very shy and didn't meet my eyes once.