The Search for the Cure

Vanessa POV

As I stalk silently through the knee high grass, I load my mechanical crossbow. It’s an ancient weapon, and is hardly ever used, but it reminds me of my dad. When I was eight, he began to teach me the art of weaponry and how to be the best agent possible. Everybody is supposed to wait until their son, or in my case daughter, is eleven to start training them to join the agency, but since my father was the best agent there was, he was given specific instructions to begin my training early. As soon as I turned twelve, which was the earliest year of age that you could enlist to join The Bureau of Immorality, I applied. They knew I had training, but their expectation wasn’t even close to the reality of my power and knowledge.  In less than a year, I had risen to the highest level in the agency, besides the leader, who was my dad. A year later, my dad went missing. I have been searching for the past two years, with no result.

A shuffle to my right brings me back to reality. I swing my bow and release the arrow. It was set as electric, instead of flaming, toxic, or numbing. I never know what’s going to be in this part of the realm, so I normally set it to electric. There was a small flash of light from the arrow making contact. But, since I can feel a vibration through the ground, I assume the creature had the ability of teleportation. I retrieve the arrow and continue on the mission that I am on, the whole reason I am here. I walk another ten or fifteen feet before I stop. I sense a presence. I can’t tell if it’s a creature or a human. My sensors tell me that it’s both, but that’s not possible. Unless…

I turn and draw my bow. A boy, maybe my age is standing there pointing a gun at me. A long pause of silence follows.

“Who are you?” I ask.

“I could ask the same thing,” He replies back to me, a smirk on the verge of appearing in his face.

I access him before I answer. He has short, black hair. His eyes are a strange mix of hazel and gray. He’s probably about two or three inches taller than me.

“Whose side are you on?” I ask harshly. My hand tightens on the bow.

A look of pain flashes in his eyes. “I am on no one’s side. I am completely alone.”

What he says flashes through my mind. I think of the prophecy.

The one who stands alone, with no one by their side,

Will be the one who answers the call, who looks far and wide.

The ability to shift, from form to form.

A story to tell, a secret to hide.

They will join with the warrior who stands in the storm.

To find the cure, and battle the swarm.

“Do you have the ability to shape-shift?” I ask, somewhat scared to hear the answer. I hope he will say no, yet I hope he will say yes.

“How did you know?” He asks, a look of confusion on his face.

“Oh no,” I say. I feel myself begin to fall. I try to stand up, but I’m already on the floor. I hear his voice next to me. I try to speak, but instead, my vision goes black and I fade into darkness.