Wake of Darkness [1]

Chapter Three

♕ The Grey Lady  ♕

Unable to part her eyes from her, Aubrette kneeled down, shutting down the cries of horror from the people around them. The eyes of the grey lady were drained of its previous deep black color, her skin thin as paper, the cut on her throat crossing perfectly straight from one side of her throat to the other. Aubrette placed her hands on her chest, knowing that she would not hear the beating of her heart underneath her palms.

There was no black left in her hair, no sign of color anywhere but the faint grey of her hair. Aubrette felt her hands shaking as she closed her eyes. She stood from the floor, searching the ground for anything that might have been used as a weapon, looking for anyone that might be able to tell her what happened.

Flashes of golden armor flooded the streets, and Aubrette realized the grey lady was not the cause of the disturbance. The guards of Goldcrest made their way into the streets of Blackstone without letting anything get in their way. The previous laughter that covered the city had been replaced by a unison cry of despair as people fled from the streets. Aubrette tried to make her way out of the square, finding most of the streets crowded, as people bumped against each other recklessly running in an attempt to find their way back home.

Aubrette closed her eyes as a guard grabbed her, pushing her out of the way along with the rest of the crowd as they blocked the entrances that led to the square.

Golden arrows flew above the crowd, but none of them were being aimed directly at them. Instead they found their way into the lights floating above, breaking as many as they could, quickly turning the streets black. Aubrette covered her head with her arms, the glass surrounding the lights falling over them like mist, the small glimmer of light fading away with the wind.

Aubrette kept her eyes on the grey lady, trying to fight against the wave of people that kept pushing her back.

"Leave her alone!" she screamed, but her voice got lost in the sea of sounds.

Two guards made their way to the grey lady's body. They knelt beside her with a golden feather in their hands. People screamed in her ears, but Aubrette's attention remained on them, as they drew over the grey lady skin, before lifting her body from the floor, carrying it away.

Her eyes searched across the people for signs of Mason, but instead found the look of terror in mother's eyes as they carried their children above the crowd. Aubrette felt a knot form on her throat as she hurried after them, trying her best not to scare people away as she held their hands and portaled them away from danger.

"Its okay" she said, as she met the eyes of a mother with a boy on her arms.

"Thank you" she replied but Aubrette had already turned her back and portaled away from them, ignoring the increasing ache on her head as she forced herself to remain conscious.

The night had fallen into complete darkness, as the guards teared the lights away from the houses around the square, making people lose their way as they fled into the night. Aubrette blinked, adjusting her sight to the dark and knew anyone who looked towards her would see a pair of silver eyes sparkling back at them.

She kept moving, not thinking as she got ahold of as many people as she could, portaling them a few streets away from danger and rushing back into the chaos to do the same once again.

Aubrette felt her breath cutting short, barely any moon light being able to reach her as she ran from one side of Blackstone to the other. Using every bit of energy she had left, she locked out the screams of terror and tried to find a way out that didn't involve dragging more attention towards her.