1 – The First Encounter
Romafelle Lockwood cried in pain as she fell down the 15 feet training pole she’s been balancing from. It’s only been today that her mind’s been preoccupied with things causing her to lose concentration—and she knew it means losing in every single way. She jumped, high enough to grab the bars and started to climb back the pole.
“Crap…” she scorned quietly and dropped back the floor. Her hand was bleeding, the pain unbearable. But then she knew it was nothing compared to how much of an injury her friends and family had for years.
“You’re still here?” Sebastian called, unable to contain his anger.
“You don’t own this place. I can stay here whenever I want.” she reasoned to her older brother. They were inside one of Nephilim’s institutes.
“Dad put me in charge of you and according to my watch, you shouldn’t be here. Did Thomas let you in?” Sebastian always hated seeing Roma train. He didn’t want her to get hurt. He didn’t want to lose her.
“I’m fine, Seb.” she said, now the irritation in her voice gone. Roma loves her brother a lot, but one thing she couldn’t understand is why he was protective of her. It’s not like she’s been allowed to be fighting any demons yet. “Fine…let’s go home.” he nodded, got her backpack and put his arms around her shoulder.
“What happened to your hand?” Sebastian’s smart. He’s one of the fastest of their kind. He’s strong and everyone knows that—only he thinks he needs to be stronger.
“I fell, maybe I cut it on the wires when I was about to grab one.”
As they walked home, silence fell in between. Maybe both of them were still thinking of how the surrounding has changed since the last battle. A month ago, a Greater Demon came out of its dimension, made haste and took thousands of lives, including their mother…and Sebastian’s girlfriend.
After the war, Sebastian thought they were cursed with being Nephilim’s. He was tired of how they hunt and kill demons. Of how he witness people he cares about die. He was 12 when they first told him he’s Nephilim, a Shadowhunter—a demon hunter. When he was younger, he thought it was cool. That it was something to boast about, but then his normal life was shattered. He can’t even remember how it was like being normal. They used reformation to hide their marks—marks which are deep inked black. It was a form of magic they knew about and can make using a stele, a stick no longer than an ordinary stick, but thicker and is made of silver material.
“Where did dad go, anyway?” she asked, eye-ing her brother.
“He’s in a Summit at Orion.” Roma gulped nervously and once again, looked at her brother. “Don’t look at me like that. I have no idea what the meeting’s about.” but then she saw it in Sebastian’s face—fear.
“Why did we leave Orion? I didn’t even get to see it.” Orion was the place where Nephilim’s can be themselves. It’s where Nephilim’s live. It was weird, she thought, that she was never allowed to see anyone from Orion. The only other Shadowhunters she had ever seen or talked to are the ones who live outside Orion, like them.
She knew there are two Nephilim country. Orion, and Idris—Idris being the bigger country.
“I don’t know. Maybe because mom and dad wanted to move away for a while?” the word ‘mom’ stabbed her heart painfully. She remembered how their mother looked, how she talked, how she smiled. And then Roma knew Sebastian was lying to her.
