The Ascendants

Chapter Eleven

---Zaidran---

Five minutes.

That's how long it took for me to find a house and the further I went was the more houses I saw until it turned into a full out community.

I think this is about ten minutes in from the border at ten miles per minute.

I had to move fast. Fast enough that no one could see me. I didn't know what this class was like and I didn't trust it either.

The roads weren't crowded but there were still people around.    

I noticed that no one walked alone but there wasn't a group larger than three people either.

I looked like a normal community at first glance but after an hour I realized how bizarre the people Abbadon was especially when compared to the other classes.

I knew it would be different. But not in a good way.

Their only mode of transportation was by horse. The houses were all built to blend in with their background and there was no laughter.

There was no street lights or monuments, instead every once in a while I would come across torches that seemed like deserted wood at first glance.

Overall the setup of the community made it easy to go in hiding without really moving and I knew that there was more to Abbadon than what meet the eyes.

I stopped behind a tree in the hills overlooking the community but I saw nothing that resembled a home.

I had heard that only the worst criminals got exiled to Abbadon. But if they are so bad, why do they live in fear.

I stayed where I was for I don't know how long before I finally decided to head back.

I was about a mile away from where we were staying when I felt it.

Someone was watching me.

I changed course as I began to search for the preying eyes, stopping ever so often to listen for a heartbeat, breathing patterns or anything that might be a sign that someone is following.

After circling the house three times without finding anything I slowed to a jog until I was walking towards the house.

When I opened the door I heard an arrow leave its bow and sliced through the air heading my direction.

I caught it about a second before it pierced my skull and glared in the direction that the arrow came from.

“What the fuck!” I yelled louder than I intended.

Skylar was standing across the room twice her size since the last time I saw her with a bow in her  hand, looking paralyzed apart from her mouth that was gaping at me like a fish out of water.

I placed the arrow on a table and closed the door without taking my eyes off her.

“I'm sorry,” she said as I made my way towards her, “how did you catch that?”

I stopped in front of her as she began to say how I shouldn't be able to catch the arrow et cetera... I wasn't listening. I was thinking about how long I haven't kissed her.

I stared at her luscious mouth recapping the events that lead to us being here.

How haven't I noticed that it has been forever since I have touched her.

I brushed my hand across her cheek gently and it was the sudden silence that fell made me remember that she was still talking.

I kissed her gently not sure of how mad she is at me. It was torture, I deepened the kiss.

“I'm not going to break, ” she said.

I smiled, but as I did I felt my canines extend out of my gums. I pulled her to my chest in a hug to hide my teeth.

“I know,” I told her,“but I am afraid that I will...” I stopped.

“That you will break?”

“No, that I will break you.”

I had finally said it. I had finally admitted my fear out loud. I couldn't lose Sky and worst I couldn't lose her because of me.

She pushed away from my chest and as she did I turned around. I was still not ready to show her my true nature.

I heard her take a step forward and then her hands slipped around my waist.

“You don't have to hide,” she said, “Not from me anyways, I already know what you are.”

I felt all the muscles in my body freeze.

“I've always known,” she continued. Her voice was barely above a whisper but I could hear her, “I just always pretended that I didn't. But I did.”

I took a deep breath and immediately regretted it. I was familiar with the scent but it was something that I haven't smelt since I arrived in Brazie.

As a new memory fitted itself in its right place in my head I felt stronger. It was a memory that I can't believe that I have lived so long without.

I wonder how much more of these memories have been snatched from me without me being aware of their absence.

In this memory I was sitting at a table with three people, all of them faces were blurry.

They seemed to be in an intense discussion in another language but I didn't mind I was more fascinated with the tall goblet placed before me.

“Drink up,” a  woman's voice said and I did.

“Zaidran,” Sky said and I looked down at her.

How had she manage to move from behind me to standing in front of me without me noticing.

I tore my eyes from her and surveyed the room. It was exactly like the house in my memory.

I couldn't stand her scent anymore. I rushed out of the house.

I ran blinded. As far as I could. I ran until her scent was so light in the air it could almost be  missed.

And that was when I took a look at my destination.

I was standing about a mile away from a black castle on a hill.