Cinders & Gold (Celeste Academy Fanfic👑)

Cinders & Gold ◇ Zevlin

♠chapter eighteen♠
ZEVLIN

Zevlin woke up in the middle of the night with a start, drenched in cold sweat. His shallow and ragged breaths left his lips rapidly.

"Gen?" he looked around the infirmary, searching for his twin's hand as he felt the need to be assured she was still by his side. His eyes strayed to the side of the bed, only to find an empty seat.

"Genevieve?" Zevlin asked out loud, frantically looking around the infirmary as panic began swelling inside of him. The older twin saw that the curtain of the room he was in had been drawn and it was already dark outside as he glanced at the window. He didn't know what time it was.

The nightmare that the eighth ranker had just woken up from terrified him. In it, Zevlin had been in a scorched and barren land that was riddled with saffron colored dunes. The coarse sand irritated his feet and he had been surprised to find himself barefoot. Dry wind picked up and harshly blew sand particles into his eyes, nose and mouth making him choke momentarily.

Zevlin struggled to maintain his stance as the wind kept on assaulting him from all sides, not to add the fact that he felt as though he was being burned by the blaring sun overhead at the same time.

But . . . just as suddenly as it had come, it stopped, and everything was calm. He staggered a bit, trying to gain equilibrium as he scanned his surroundings.

Zevlin was in a desert, that much he could tell. He couldn't see clearly as the mirage obscured his view.

He straightened his back as more flashes of the nightmare flitted across his closed eyelids.

"Ryker," said the older twin, recalling the demon he had encountered in his dream. The demon who kept taunting him about his inability to use his fire.

The demon who killed his parents.

'Well, well, well,' Ryker had suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the dream, and Zevlin narrowed his eyes at the demon. The pair of glowing dark eyes with a hint of grey and a ray of red that the demon possessed caused a shiver to run down Zevlin's spine. The twin felt disgusted as he stared at the demon's skin, which happened to be translucent that one could see his bluish veins popping out.

'If it isn't Zayeed's little brat,' Ryker had said, causing Zev to clench his fists. It was strange how the demon's voice echoed all around him, as though they were in a closed high walled room, yet they were in an open desert.

"What do you want?" asked Zevlin.

Ryker began circling him slowly. 'Do tell me, how's your fire? Scared that it will get out of hand and burn your sister?' He cackled maniacally as Zevlin stayed silent.

"Why are you here?"

'Oh, dearest. If you think I've invaded your thoughts unlawfully, you're dead wrong,' Ryker chuckled. 'As a matter of fact, I'm here because you let me in.'

Zevlin narrowed his eyes and was about to ask the demon what he meant, when Ryker put up a finger to stop.

'I know, I know. You want to ask how and blah blah blah. I'll save you the effort.' He cleared his throat as though he was about to declare an important announcement. 'Just so you are aware, ever since your pretty little sister invoked your memory of the night of the great fire, I've been lurking around. If you didn't know, you subconsciously think of me even though you do not wish to acknowledge it, which is quite flattering if you ask me. I'm quite aware of how attractive I am.'