City of Fire

Chapter Six

"Ilona"

Ilona sat at the table, her fingers wrapped around the warm cup of coco. Her body had stopped shaking hours ago but in return she'd gone numb. She didn't feel the warmth or the pain from her bruises, just the cold numbness. Her so called Guardians had taken her back to her small, two story house and as they'd walked up the sidewalk she realized that she hadn't told them where she'd lived.

Then her uncle had answered the door...

She looked up at him from her place by the kitchen table and felt her unease settle. His face was hard and lined his eyes deep and dark, while his hair was a silvery white. As far as she knew he wasn't all that old but his hair always added the age to him. Despite that he was still tall and imposing, but she knew that despite his bear like appearance his heart bothered him.

It didn't seem to be now...

He fixed the four men that filled the kitchen hallway with hard eyes and by the expression on his face he wasn't happy. She turned her eyes to look out the small window to the little garden, wishing for the umpteenth time that this was a dream, that someone would say that it was a practical joke, a horrible prank but it wasn't, and she knew it.

She just didn't want to accept it...

"You were supposed to protect her!" Her uncle thundered and Adrian sighed.

"There were no reports given that suggested a Bog had traveled from Eden to here and that she would so openly attack Ilona." Adrian replied and Ilona closed her eyes, wishing that she could just fold in on herself and escape this whole scenario but knew that she couldn't.

"That's irrelevant, you were supposed to be doing your job," his tone was biting and Tidus snorted.

"No offense, gramps, but we weren't even sure who the Dominus was until today. You could have told us years ago that you'd brought her here instead of—" Tidus words were cut off when Adrian's hand shot up and slammed against the wall in front of Tidus's face.

"That is enough, Tidus," his tone was calm but his words were firm. There would be no argument and Tidus closed his mouth.

"Remember who you're speaking to, sparky," her uncle growled and Ilona surprised herself when a slight grin tugged on her lips. Tidus stiffened with indignation, his eyes flashing flames before he turned, his spiky hair now sticking out at odd angles as if it were electrically charged, and headed towards the living room.

"We will speak of this more tomorrow," her uncle looked over his shoulder at her and his dark eyes softened before they returned back to Adrian, "For now tell your parents what has happened and make sure that the appropriate precautions are being put underway." Ilona stared at him as he spoke to Adrian.

An image sprung before her eyes...

A man, his face hard with a dark brown hair and shining eyes stood atop a mountain of stone, a long dark robe embroidered with gold flowing from his broad shoulders. Cinders and ash rained down around him as flames danced at his feet and Ilona felt the world tipping.

She heard someone shout before the world went black...

When she opened her eyes she was no longer in their little kitchen, but instead she was in a stoned in room, a long, seemingly endless fireplace running along one wall and a large chair with a surprisingly small table beside it. The chair was empty and she frowned, looking around but blackness surrounded her, pressing her into the tight corner of light that the fire provided. Her eyes tried to adjust to the darkness but she found that they wouldn't and something deep down told her that if she tried to step from the light and into the shadows, she wouldn't be coming back.