The Marked Ones (Harry Styles)

The Quest

Anger boiled within me. The fear had vanished. This is what he wants me to be. He wants to feel my fear radiate from me, he wants me to grovel on the ground before him begging for mercy, and most of all, he wants me weak.

Instead of surrendering into his game, I decided to play along. Two can play at this game and I sure as hell won't lose to an asshole like whoever the fuck I was dealing with.

"You want death? Huh? Is that what you want?" I let out a dark chuckle. "I will show you death! I will make you fall on your knees and bow to me! You will not win! There's always a light!" I scream fiercely into the dark nothingness that is now my world.

I couldn't figure where I was. Everything was black. The only light to shine through was from a short, but wide glass window high up on the cold cement wall. A full moon was up tonight and stars dotted the dark sky.

I sat on my knees facing the window. My hair a knotted mess and my eyes were filled in rage. A simple white strapless dress covered my body. My feet were bare. A shiver ran through my spine at the contact of the cool concrete floor. I was seated directly in the middle of the square of light reflecting on the floor.

A dark laugh echoed throughout the room. My eyes frantically scanned the room in search of whom the voice belonged to.

I couldn't see anyone. Not even a squeak was heard that may have given the mysterious person's location.

"Who are you?" I whisper. I inwardly huffed in annoyance as the words came out softer and more desperate than intended.

"You will know soon, Ar-" The deep voice seemed to belong to a man. He cut himself off before correcting himself. "You will figure that out soon, A."

"Why can't you tell me now?" My heart rate calmed as well as my breathing had.

"Do you want revenge? Do you even remember why you were sentenced to this world you take as a 'hell'?"

I furrowed my eyebrows and a bright white flashed through my mind causing a scream of pain to fall from my soft lips. Both my hands grasped the sides of my head and I squeezed my eyes shut.

"You don't remember,do you?" The man scoffed. "Shame you scream your anger at me, but you are not aware of the cause of it? I pity you." He spat with such distaste, I felt the anger resurfacing.

I was no longer showing him my weakness. I stood up and turned to face the darkness. I sharply inhaled and gritted my teeth. Annoyance filled my eyes and it took everything in my body not to find this bastard and rip his throat out.

"How dare you speak to me like that, you pathetic bastard. I don't need your pity. I just want to know why the hell your men took me here and who the fuck you think you are. I thought you couldn't see me? I'm a spirit. No one sees me."

"I can see you because I am the same kind as you. I know more about you than you know about yourself." A cold draft shifted throughout the room and I could practically hear the smirk in his voice. "Hell, you can't even remember your name. Now you go by A? That's pathetic. Anyway, I needn't come to harm you. I have a....task for you."

"Insulting won't get you anywhere. Taking me here was a mistake on your part. I won't do shit for you!" I screamed making sure I was clear to this man.

"Oh, but you will. See, don't you want to remember who you are? What your name was? I could give you this information -- Hell, I could take you from this place and let you free. I will give you happiness if you give me what I want." His tone held in a convincing manner as he tried to persuade me.

"Happy? How could someone be happy without family? I don't deserve to be happy. I don't want happiness. I just want revenge." My words were true.

"I could get that for you too. All I need is a simple task on your part. You will possess your old body, use a fake name to go by, and I will send you money every week to provide yourself with the shit you need to survive."

"I'm listening." My voice came out calmer and expressionless, just as I had intended it to be.

"13 people. You're one of them, so really all you gotta do is find 12 others. You all have marks on your neck with the exact same design in the exact same spot. No flaws. Find them."

My eyebrows furrowed. "And how will I know where they might be?"

"That's what I was going to explain to you," A roll of yellowish paper rolled stopping in front of me. I hesitantly picked it up and opened it. A map. "This will lead you to where they are. After you got one, it'll show you the next."

Suddenly, a bright light flashed above London. I rolled it back up and stuffed it into my bag.

"Anything else you wanna tell me?" I say rather exasperatedly. I just wanted to get my ass out of here.

"Yes. The people who killed you are 'Rabids'. They seem like normal humans, but they aren't. They can turn into revolting beady eyed beasts with fangs and claws. It's not a pretty sight. They'll hunt you down and won't think twice about killing you, so be careful where you flash that mark of yours. They're actually the ones who killed you. They would've done more, but I stopped them -- well, my men did, at least."

"Great. I'm doing a job for a crazy, fucked up asshole I don't even know the name of, and a bunch of 'rabbits' or whatever the hell you call 'em are trying to kill me as I find a bunch of strangers. Could this get any better?" I spat sarcasm dripping in my last sentence.

"You get revenge and you return with my people still breathing. Everything will be fine, A. Now, what would you like your fake name to be?"

I thought for a moment and then snapped my fingers. I got it. "Natalia Heartman." That was a catchy name and the first thing on my mind at the moment.

"Alright, Natalia." A box suddenly slid into view and I grabbed it stuffing it in my bag as well.

"That's all you will need for now." I only nodded and vanished into thin air as he sent me away to start my journey.

But I didn't know what I was in for by taking this journey at the time. I did not know of what my future foretold, let alone the legend of the marked ones...

A/N

Okay, okay. This chapter is a bit rushed and short and not written well. I promise it'll get better!