Dark Ages- Book 1

Chapter 7 - Lucian

Azrael and I walked in silence as we headed towards the patriarch's room. The sound of our shoes squeaking against the tile floor filled the air.

“Sure hope that old man doesn’t try anything funny with them,” Azrael told me. I grinned at him.

“If he did, he knows what would happen to him,” this made Azrael chuckle softly. I took my rubber band out and tied my curly, black hair into a bun. We both stopped in front of the Patriarch’s room door. We both took a deep breath.

“Are you ready for this?” I asked Azrael, he ran a hand through his black hair, his crystal blue eyes unsettled.

“Yeah. Let’s go,” he said as he opened the door. The chilly air in the room hit us hard, making all the heat from our body disappear. The Patriarch sat on his black office chair behind his big, wooden table. A red glass of wine was sitting right next to him, half empty. The Patriarch kept his mask on. But his bright jade green eyes were visible from the mask.

“Ah, so you're both ready to go?” he asked us with no emotions.

“Yes, sir,” I said as Azrael kept quiet. The Patriarch got up, who was almost as tall as us, and walked in front of his desk. He leaned against it and crossed his arms across his chest.

“Mind telling me what’s happening in this school?” he asked us in annoyance. I arched my eyebrow in confusion, a frown forming on my lips.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you're talking about.” his jade green eyes bore into me.

“Don’t play dumb, there’s been a lot of Akuma’s on the school grounds.”

“We really don’t know, sir.”

“Have you two been doing your work? Did you two look to see if the ruins were alright?” He asked as his anger started to rise, I opened my mouth to speak again, but Azrael spoke up before me.

“Yes, we have been doing our job, and the ruins are perfectly healthy,” he said in a bored expression and went quiet again. The Patriarch looked at Azrael for a second, then he looked away. He uncrossed his arms and began to pace back and forth in front of us.

“So, you're both saying that the ruins are perfectly healthy and that Akuma’s are coming inside somehow?”

“Yes, sir,” I said. He suddenly stopped pacing and turned towards us.

“We have a traitor among us,” he said, his voice sending chills down our spin. He put his arms behind his back.

“You both have a new mission. Look for the mole between us and terminate it. The tour is canceled until this is fixed. You both are dismissed.” he said as picked up some papers from his table and started reading them.

“Yes, sir. Have a great day, sir,” I said as we both turned around and left the room. I closed the door behind me and walked back at a slower speed, exhausted by the meeting. I sighed out loud.

“Man, now we have more work,” Azrael said, stretching his arms.

“At least we don’t have to go on a tour with him,” I told him with a grin.

“If we did, I think I would explode in an hour. I can’t take him,” he said as he shook his head. I laughed as I imagined The Patriarch and Azrael arguing and suddenly him exploding.

“What’s funny?” he asked.

“Oh nothing, I was just imagining something,” he lightly punched my arm, and I pretended to be injured.

“You're such an ass.”

“So, are you,” we both laughed.

“Do you want to grab a bite?” I asked him. He nodded, shaking his head fast. We both walked towards a vending machine we were so familiar with in this part of the building. We both got a granola bar. I leaned against the wall and looked out the window, watching as the sun slowly went down, its red rays burning the sky softly. The birds flew toward the sun. The breeze picked up, and blew on the trees, ruffling the leaves. I finished my granola bar and looked at Azrael, who was shoving the whole thing in his mouth and chewing slowly.

“Why are you such a baby?” I asked him. He said something that wasn’t audible.

“Sorry, princess, I can’t hear you,” I mocked him, and got shoved. We both walked back quietly as Azrael chewed on his bar. We stopped by the cafeteria to find Saija and Zemira, but they weren’t anywhere. Everyone in the cafeteria stopped by to say Hello or ask us any questions. We slowly made our way to the exit and ran.

“I hate this,” I told him.

“Tell me about it.”

“Where do you think they are?” I asked Azrael.

“They’re probably back in their rooms,” Azrael said. We walked towards the girl’s rooms. I knocked on their door slowly. Zemira opened the door, she was still in the same outfit she was wearing when I saw her. A black hoodie, cheetah print tank top, with flare pants and sneakers. Saija was on her bed eating her dinner plate on Zemira’s bed. She still wore a white shirt with black jeans, and black leather boots. They both looked at us in surprise.

“Hey there Zemira, how’s everything going? Did you like the school?” I asked her softly. Glad for some peace.