The Rise of The Powers vol. 1

Chapter 5: City of Souls

Chapter 5: City of Souls

Finally, after what seemed like years, but really was only a few days I walked the streets of The Empire again. I kept my head down and tried my best to fit in with everyone around me. I couldn't risk anyone knowing I was back, not after what had happened, what I'd done, but then I took a look around me and felt that something was different. Nothing out of the ordinary but I could tell. There was an uneasy silence filling the air. People kept their heads down, their mouths shut. Their eyes glued to the ground. Fights broke out. They cursed, yelled, and cried, but when I looked closer I realized that these people weren't human. Their mouths were distorted empty black holes. Their eyes were bloodshot and transfixed into looking into nothingness. Their bodies were disfigured black shadows. Bloody gashes covered each "face", they were bald, and their skin was pale white because there was no sun here, only dark black clouds that made it look as if it was about to rain, but it never did. An uneasy feeling crept up inside me. These people weren't human, but not monsters either. They were our souls.

Then I blinked and felt like I was falling and suddenly the scene changed. It was The Empire I knew. People smiled laughed and talked. Obviously unaware that their souls were trapped in a man-made hell, waiting for the day the human part of them died. The day when they would be trapped in there forever. I blinked again and suddenly it came to me. I knew what they had done. What the Power's had done.

They had trapped our bodies in a false paradise. While our souls wandered aimlessly in a man-made hell, waiting for the day we died. When we would be imprisoned there forever. Now after what had happened, what I'd done, I saw through Power's paradise and saw what was really happening. I knew that I had to be the one to stop the Power's from killing everyone off. From getting their revenge.

I ran out of The Empire, I couldn't stand the fact that all of this had been happening around me and I'd been completely oblivious to it all. All though of course I couldn't have done anything, after all I only had had my soul back for a few days, before that I had been just like "everyone" else, but then I slammed against an invisible wall and fell to the ground.

"Duke . . ." I heard a voice, a girls voice, before I passed out.

"Ugh, Duke wakeup. You dumb-ass." I blinked. Lilith was standing over me, Lilith Power was standing over me.

I scrambled to my feet. Ignoring the searing pain on my arms and legs. I tried to speak, but all that came out was a gurgled choke of blood and broken teeth.

"Ew! Don't spit that stuff on me. Gross!" Lilith laughed. "JK! I've seen so much worse than that. You don't even know. After all my mother's Essence." She said it in a singsongy voice. I blinked.

"What?" I managed to choke out. My voice was raspy and it hurt to speak.

Lilith laughed again. "Aw you poor little thing. You must be so confused right now. Oh, Duke, you're just so adorable! I bet you would like to know what's happening? Wouldn't you?" She fake pouted and her baby voice made me want to scream.

"No, no, Lilith, I do not want to hear your lies. For your information I have somewhere very important to be."

"Duke wait! I just wanted to be friends. Essence kicked Soren, father, and I out. She now rules The Empire all by herself. Could you please take me with you. I don't belong anywhere in the land of Alembria anymore."

I turned around. "What the hell is Alembria?"

Lilith looked at me. "Don't you know what all of this is called? Didn't anyone ever tell you?" She motioned to everything around her.

I looked at here completely blank. "What?"

Lilith sighed. "I better start at the beginning. A long time ago, when the Partial's still ruled The Empire Mother, Father, Soren, and I traveled all over Alembria. We went everywhere, The Forest, The Desert, The Mountains, even The Ocean. We traveled for years trying to find," She shook her head. "Never mind. Anyway we came back to The Empire empty handed and only half-immortal and only half-magical, same as before. So we-"

"Wait what. How where you only, that doesn't make any sense. You weren't in power yet."

Lilith sighed again, as if I should all this. "You know Edinite right. As in The House of Edinite." When I nodded she continued. "Well, he's the Power's ancestor and as long as we keep up The Edinite rules, meaning only marrying inside the family." She shuddered. "Well, if we keep doing that even if we're not in power, we can still be half-immortal and half-magical. Anyway after another one of Ethel's idea's failed, we-"

"Wait, what was his idea?"

Lilith sighed again. It was getting really annoying. "He thought that somewhere in the land of Alembria was something that could make us fully immortal and fully magical, he was wrong. Anyway," Lilith glared at me. "We came home, killed off the Partial's, and rose the Power's back to their former glory. Then 17 years later Essence kicked the rest of the family out and here I am."

I narrowed me eyes. "I only have to more question's-" Lilith huffed. I glared at her. "What were you trying to find and how old are you and your family really?"

"It doesn't matter what we were trying to find, it's not real or at least not real anymore and I don't know my family and I's exact age, but I assume that mother and father are around 500 and Soren and I are somewhere between 300 and 400. How old are you?"

I shrugged. "17 I think." Something dawned on me. "So that's why Soren looks older than the rest of the Power family because he's only half-immortal. He never killed the Prince before him so he still ages, but very slowly."

Lilith sighed. Again. "I'm beginning to think you don't know anything, Duke. When you come to power you're really only like ¾ immortal, only . . ." She shook her head. "Never mind. Though are you sure you're 17 you only look like 10 or 11." Then her eye's widened. "Of course! Damn it how could I have been so stupid? Forget it, Duke. Pretend I never said anything."

My eyes narrowed, but I decided to let it go. "Well, Lilith, I appreciate everything I really do, but I lied I have nowhere to go. I'm an outcast just like you." I looked around. "Are Soren and Ethel around here somewhere?"

Lilith shook her head. "No, they're being loser's and trying to get Essence to forgive them. Not that she will and I don't care if you have no where to go, I can show you around Alembria. If you want."

I sighed. Maybe I could trust her. Maybe she wasn't like her mother at all. Maybe she just had a messed up and ruthless "childhood". Maybe she just strayed so far off the "path" that she couldn't find it and wanted me to help her find it. And maybe, just maybe, I would.