Starlight Souls ✦

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'Emrys.' Candace concluded, 'You should go and help the others find Talita. There aren't many places in this building that she could be at, so I can do it here alone. There are far too many places in the other buildings. You should go and find Talita with Sirelle and Denzel.'

'Sure.' Emrys replied before leaving, 'After you are done looking for her in this building, meet us outside the main building.'

With that, Emrys left, and Candace walked towards their dormitory room.

As she entered the room in hopes of finding Talita there, she heard the door shut behind her after she walked into the living room. She turned around to see the man she never wanted to see again in her life standing in front of the closed door, looking at her with a smirk.

Connor.

Her heart sank in her chest as she saw him approach her. His green eyes were staring right through her soul as her heart was beating so as to jump out of her chest. She stepped backwards as the distance between him and her shortened.

She saw Morvan standing in the corner of the living room, who didn't have any kind of expression on his face. Now, if she were to compare Morvan and Connor side by side, they did look alike a lot.

That was when it hit her, their names—Morvan Rainier and Connor Rainier.

Rainier.

They were brothers.

Then suddenly, it all started making sense—why Morvan was doing all those things, why he was so distant with everyone else, and why he had their personal information with him. All of it made sense.

Candace fell to the ground after hitting her leg on the coffee table and losing balance. She sat while looking up to see Connor, her back supported by the coffee table that made her fall.

Connor crouched down in front of her. She tried to back away but couldn't. She knew she couldn't run away anymore—her worst fear had caught up to her.

Connor snickered, seeing Candace's condition. She looked as if she had seen a ghost.

'Young lady, Miss Ivory.' The words leaving his mouth sounded as sweet as honey but, deep down, were the same as poison. 'Or should I say, Rave?'

Even though Candace was sure she had never heard that name before, it felt familiar to her ears.

'It was such a headache to come up with a plan to end all of you before tonight.' The frustration in Connor's words was soon replaced by satisfaction, 'But I can say it'll all be payed for once I hear the five of you scream in pain.'

Candace's breath was coming out unevenly; her lungs felt like they were about to fall apart.

'You don't know anything, do you? Poor girl.' He added, 'You five aren't ordinary human beings. You're, what they call, the Starlight Souls. The guardians of magic before it died. You all were killed by my ancestors, who wanted magic to end. They were successful, but you all were able to write a prophecy before you died. Do I need to tell you who wrote the prophecy, Candace?' It was the first time he called her by her name in that conversation, 'You. That the Starlight Souls would be reincarnated and bring back the magic that had died. Do you know when that happened? It was three centuries ago. Since then, the duty to kill the five of you has been passed down my lineage. The duty ends with me and Morvan.'

Candace didn't know what she should say in response to everything that he had told her, if she was able to. Everything felt like a lie, but deep down, she knew that it was all the truth. Whatever that Connor had told her would be seen as the explanation to all the things that have been happening with her and the rest of her friends.

'I have to admit that I almost missed the shot.' Connor continued, 'Initially, I had been given the knowledge that one of the five Starlight Souls was the Emerson Daughter. I didn't know which one of them it was, so I decided to marry the older one and kill her as soon as I had the chance. But it turned out that the one I had killed was never supposed to die by my hands. Poor soul, may she rest in peace now.'

As Candace tried to process everything that Connor had told her a few seconds ago, she felt a sharp pain shoot up in his abdomen.

She looked down to see the colour of blood mixing with the colour of her maroon dress along with a knife that was pushed inside her stomach. She traced the hands holding the knife and realised it was Connor who had stabbed her. Connor.

As he pulled the knife out, Candace kneeled forward. She wanted to scream from the burning sensation that was piercing her abdomen, but no voice left her mouth. All of her words, all of her screams, and all of her cries were stuck in her throat, refusing to come out.

The pain from the stab wound was already enough for her to be disabled, but on top of that, she felt another wave of pain shooting through her head.

She heard Connor say something to Morvan, 'Bring her to the woods where the other girl is.'

Connor had kicked her in the head and left the room. That was all she was able to see before she lost her consciousness.