BLACK HALO

THE OMEN

CHAPTER 2

~100 years ago~

The village had completely burned down. Black smoke rose from the remains of the wooden buildings, and limbs from men, women, and children were scattered all over. The yellow grains of sand around the village were tainted with the blood of its people, and the echoes of their screams still traveled across the land even though the carnage had ended a few hours ago.

Aurelia panted heavily as golden blood dripped from her sword. Her face was stained with blood, and her once white hair slowly turned black. The halo on her head vanished, and the sword she held in her hand dissipated. She stood up straight and looked around the battleground, looking for Michael.

She finally spotted him a distance away, lying on the ground, almost lifeless. His throat had been slit open, but he still held on tightly to life.

Aurelia smiled as she saw him. “Micheal, I did it; I killed all of them; they won’t bother us again,” she said as she walked back toward him.

As she moved closer and closer to him, the ground started to shake. Aurelia staggered around, trying to regain her stamina, when she saw one of the ghostly beings appear beside Michael.

“No…” She said softly as her eyes widened.

A long spare materialized in the ghost’s right hand, and it thrust the spare into Michael’s chest remorselessly.

“NO!!” Aurelia yelled. Her brows furrowed and her teeth clenched. Her irises shrank as the anger in her built up, and droplets of tears flew from her eyes. She summoned her sword again and threw it at the ghost’s head, but before she could see it kill the ghost, the ground underneath her opened up. She fell into a pit of fire, and the ground closed back up.

~THE OMEN~

Aurelia gasped heavily as her eyes opened up. She quickly jumped off the bed she was on and instinctively assumed a battle stance, looking around to see if there were any enemies around her. She looked around the room where she was. There was a mop and a bucket sitting in a corner, and the bed she laid on was made of hay.

She let out a sigh, then said softly, “Just a bad dream.”

“Who was that man, though? It actually felt like I cared for him,” she said, staring at her right palm. “Probably just my imagination,” she shrugged.

She walked toward the door of the room and pulled it open. The moment she did, she saw tons of people walking about on the outside. She jumped back in shock and quickly shut the door with her right foot, panting slowly.

“Where the hell am I?” She asked before noticing something.

“My armor… Where is my armor?” she asked, looking around the room. She rushed toward the door and opened it again. As she did, she saw two soldiers standing at the door, one with his left hand up, ready to knock.

“Who are you two?” Aurelia asked.

“We are soldiers of the great king Fredrick of Seth-Healm. We were sent here to take you to the royal palace to have breakfast with the king,” one of the soldiers said.

“Breakfast with the king?” Aurelia asked.

“Yes, it’s one of the many benefits of being this month’s winner of the muscle games,” the soldier replied.

“Muscle games?” Aurelia whispered to herself, trying to recall what that was. She suddenly remembered her fight with the large man named Rumble, and her eyes widened.