The Forgotten Kingdom || Editing

Chapter 2

A loud bang, followed by Grace cursing startles Elora out of her thoughts. Looking down at her smiling parents, she takes in every last feature making sure that she wouldn't forget. The picture had been taken a day before they were killed. Elora's mum and dad had their arms circled around her, beaming at the camera. Elora could still remember what they had told her that day. Word for word.

"Elora, we are so proud of you baby. Of the woman you've become. You are the light of our lives, the one thing that makes us keep going."

Swiping the tears from her face, Elora goes out and finds Grace cursing at a fallen pot that had landed on her toe.

"Hey Gracie. I'm going out for a walk," Elora says, holding back her laughter.

"Another one?" At Elora's nod, Grace picks up the pot and places it on the counter. "I'll come with you."

Frowning, Elora protests, "No, you really don't have to. You should sleep, it's late." Grace simply waves her complaints away and grabs a jacket.

"Let's go, I need some fresh air." Grabbing Elora's hand, she tugs her out of the apartment, locking the door behind her.

. . .

Walking down the winding streets, the darkness seemed to grow darker by the minute. The glimmering snow crunched beneath their feet as they made their way around the block. Grace looks up at Elora, noticing that her friend's body was taut.

"What are you so worried about? If you want we could go back to the apartment."

Shaking her head, Elora looks down a dark alley. "I thought that I saw something. It's probably nothing," she says trying to convince herself more than her friend.

"It's probably just the darkness. It makes you see things." Grace looks at her worriedly, and then switches her gaze to the alley that Elora was looking down. "I'm pretty sure we're on the outskirts of the city."

As they keep walking, the street lights seem to be placed more erratically, the distance between each one longer. Soon Elora found herself looking ahead for the next one, as if it was a safe haven. Walking faster than before, she reaches the next lamp post with Grace by her side. As soon as they reached the warm bubble of light, it flickered. Then as quick as the flicker, the light went out.

Flinching, Elora glances behind her to see the street lights disappearing one by one. Goosebumps rose on her flesh, as she reached out for Grace's hand for reassurance, giving it a quick squeeze.

"That's weird, I didn't think that power outages effected street lamps. I thought that these ran on batteries," Grace says squeezing Elora's hand back. Taking out her phone, she puts it on flashlight mode. "I think it's time to go back."

Mutely nodding, Elora pulls Grace back along the path they came, when she realized just how few people there were. In fact, at second glance, there was no one outside. The silence was suddenly deafening, overwhelming Elora's senses. Breaking into a run, she hears Grace call out something from behind her, but it seemed like nothing to her. Grace's hand clamps down on her arm.

"Hey, stop. Girl, what's wrong? Did you see something?" Grace's eyes meet Elora's panicked ones in confusion.

"No, I don't need to Grace. There's something wrong, very wrong. I don't know what, but it feels like the night my parents died. The thing that killed them, it's here," Elora whispers in a rush. The cold steadily crept into her, the coat doing nothing to stop it from entering as it wasn't the cold from outside, but from fear. The cold that had settled inside her soul the moment she had lost everything.

Elora looks at Grace, her face bathed in moonlight. Suddenly her eyes widen, and glancing up at the sky she sees the full moon.

"No, I was sure that there was no moon tonight. Just earlier, I remember clearly there was no moon. We have to get out of here fast, I can't let something happen to you too. I can't lose anyone else."

"Well, no one ever picked you to be the sentimental type Elora," a low voice drawls from behind her. "Tell me, did you ever think about what would happen when you betrayed us?"

Startled they both turn around, Grace whips her flashlight towards the voice. A man stood in front of them, his black hair sticking to his forehead with sweat despite the freezing cold air. He looked at them, seemingly amused at their alarm. His dark eyes bore into Elora giving her the feeling that he could see deep inside her.

His face seemed familiar to her, his angular face bringing back a memory that she would have rather liked to forget.

"You." Elora points a shaky finger at him, backing slowly away dragging Grace with her.

"Me?" A look of shock comes across his face when his eyes rest on Grace before vanishing with a laugh. "Of course it's me. You don't have any escape Elora. Here I thought that I would finally get the pleasure of killing you tonight, but I get your best friend as well?" The man starts walking closer to them, a malicious smile on his face. "You had so much potential, but you threw that all away Elora. You betrayed us."

"No I didn't," she says her breath coming out in short gasps. "I left, you said I had that choice."

Grinning, his blood red lips part showing pointed teeth. "You lost that choice when you told that woman where to find it."

Elora's terror filled eyes met Grace's beautiful emerald ones. Not again, this can't happen again. I won't let someone else I love die because of what I did. I should've just killed myself when I had the chance to.

"Hey, Elora. It's ok," Grace says. "Calm down, and we'll take this one step at a time."

Harsh laughter filled the air. "Ah, you really have grown sentimental Elora, so much so that you need a friend to protect you. What happened to the assassin that could kill so ruthlessly?"

"That's not who I am, not anymore. I'm sorry Grace. I let this happen to you."

Shaking her head, Grace looks back at the man facing them. "I still have a few tricks up my sleeve," she whispers. Pushing Elora behind her, she reaches into her coat pocket and pulls out two gleaming daggers.

. . .

thank you guys so much for reading! how did you guys think about this chapter? if you liked this please leave a comment and a vote, and i'll see you guys later ♥

-midnightskies-