BLACK HALO

BETRAYAL

CHAPTER 5

200 YEARS AGO.

Amelia and Aurelia sat quietly inside the wooden remains of their orphanage. A pile of fruits they had found under the sands of their burned-down village sat between them; the fruits looked like they were close to going bad. They hurriedly ate the apples and bananas, hoping they hadn’t completely gone bad, and Aurelia bit through one apple after another like she hadn’t eaten anything for days. Their bodies had become filthy, and flies flew around them continuously.

They continued to eat until there was only one fruit left, a green apple. It was the freshest one among the piles. Aurelia and Amelia stared at the fruit for a moment, then turned to each other.

Amelia smiled. “You can have it,” she said.

Aurelia stared at her for a moment, then smiled back. She picked the apple up from the ground and bit into it slowly. The apple was very juicy and sweet—the sweetest one they had found so far. She took another bite out of the apple, then stretched her arm toward Amelia to hand over what was left.

“Aurelia, that’s for you alone,” Amelia said with surprise on her face.

“You should try it; it’s delicious,” Aurelia said with a bright smile.

Amelia stared for a moment, smiled, and collected the apple from Aurelia. She bit into the apple slowly, and her eyes widened in shock. She had never tasted anything so sweet in her life, so she chewed and swallowed it slowly so the taste would last a long time in her mouth.

“That’s really good,” Amelia said, giggling.

“I told you,” Aurelia replied.

Aurelia’s smile slowly waned. She turned back to the ground and asked Amelia, “Amelia, why haven’t we left this place yet?”

“Well, we have to be sure there’s nothing out there first. If we just go out there without properly preparing, we’ll be eaten alive,” Amelia replied.

“Eaten alive by what?” Aurelia asked with fear in her eyes.

“Didn’t you hear about it from the other orphanage nannies? Before the attack, there were plans to move the children and women of the village to a kingdom close by because we are currently located in a very dangerous area—close to the gap,” Amelia answered.

“What’s the gap?” Aurelia asked.

“I don’t know if it’s true or not, but the other nannies said that there was an imbalance in the cosmos or something like that, and that caused a large rip to grow into reality—a rip that led to the depths of hell. Monsters came pouring out of the rip, killing everyone and everything they saw. The monsters might be out there as we speak, so we have to be very careful,” Amelia answered.

Aurelia rushed to her side in fear. “I don’t want to be eaten alive!” She yelled, wrapping her arms around Amelia.

“You won’t. I’ll always protect you, Aurelia, until my last breath,” Amelia replied, wrapping her arms around her.

The ground suddenly started to rumble. Aurelia and Amelia turned to the door and quickly got back on their feet.

“Stay inside here; I’ll go check what’s going on,” she said to Aurelia, then moved to the door. She pulled the door open slowly, and her eyes widened in response to what she saw. Giant spiders and scorpions had filled the village, feeding on the remains of the dead bodies that laid around.

Amelia quickly shut the door and turned to Aurelia, breathing heavily.

“What’s wrong? What is out there?” Aurelia asked.