Insurrection (Completed) [editing]

19. After

Chapter nineteen - After
Keira writhed around in her blankets. Her pants were folded up uncomfortably and her calves were aching. She sat up and stumbled out of bed, fumbled for the light switch, and flicked it. Keira rubbed her eyes and checked the clock on the wall opposite her. Midnight. She felt a grumble in her stomach and her throat felt a little dry.

Keira tiptoed to her door and pulled it open as slowly and as quietly as she could. She blindly made her way to the kitchen and flicked on the light switch. Keira opened the refridgerator and skimmed the contents. There was nothing of interest, so she took one of the healthy pre-made meals, and popped them into the microwave.

As Keira settled into a couch, the living room light switch went on. Melanie walked in silently and sat next to Keira. Her eyes were curious and her dark hair fell into her face as she looked at Keira.

"You okay?" Melanie asked, trying as much as she could not to sound too caring. Melanie had always been taught to be kind, but firm in these situations, being all mushy would only make someone cry.

"Well, I am now, I guess" Keira hesitated as she spoke. She wasn't really sure how she was actually feeling.

"You look drained for someone who's okay," Melanie remarked.

"I feel fine though, maybe I should get in more hours of sleep." Keira yawned and placed the empty food container on the wooden coffee table.

"Yeah, you'll need it, tomorrow is a busy day. We're doing drills."

Keira and Melanie stood up simultaneously and went their separate ways.

A wide eyed energetic Keira tiptoed back into her room and pulled the Peacemakers book out of the bag she had hidden it in.

Keira opened the book, flicked the first two pages and folded them in half, then she unfolded them and dropped the book. Keira watched as it transformed, it happened in a split second but it seemed to slow down just a little bit, enough for her to see the purple mist around it. Keira picked up the book, sat down and opened it to read.

The purple mist flowed out of the book and started to create images. The scene was different. It was no longer the girl on the ferliobog's back. Instead, a small village. There were old-fashioned wooden houses and small cottages everywhere. Children ran around and played with small creatures that looked like bears. The small creatures were all different in colour, some blue, some black or brown and others yellow, orange and maroon. Keira watched how the Ferliobogs and the children interacted with each other. It was just as she had been with Bo, the children were laughing and walking hand in hand with the young Ferliobogs. Keira then realized what the first page in the book had meant. She had taken it figuratively the first time, but now she understood.

Ferliobogs and humans, before the region system, had lived together with humans, in harmony.

A larger Ferliobog came out of one of the cottages and slowly morphed into a man as it made its way to the fire. A woman followed behind the shapeshifter, but she, was human and did not show any signs of being a shapeshifter. The woman embraced the man and in the background, more men, shape-shifters and Ferliobogs started to come out of their cottages and make their way to the fire. Their expressions were solemn, their bodies rigid-looking and each of them seemed to have some sort of weapon.

A tall, handsome man with long silver hair appeared at the fire, and started to speak as every man settled down. The man spoke with such passion, every word laced with authority and power, that he had to be the leader.

The other men started to cheer, and as they did, they got up and started to move out of camp. The Ferliobogs who could not shape shift followed behind and started to form a protective wall around camp. The men formed another wall in front of the Ferliobogs, and the shape-shifters did the same in front of the men. The leader, morphed into a beautiful, silver Ferliobog. His coat was clean and slick, free of blemishes and dirt. He stood up on his hind legs and raised his arms high. Every man, Ferliobog and shapeshifter raised their arms with him and seemed to prepare for some battle or attack that was about to happen.

A flash of light blinked before Keira and she began to see what they were protecting themselves against. Maflakofs. Keira could clearly see what they were from their long tails and hairy bodies. She watched as they started to attack, and they seemed to be coming from every direction. Keira also noticed creatures in the air. They were ugly looking; their wings scruffy and bony and their sharp beaks yellow with decay and dirt. The creatures started to circle the camp and Keira watched as one of the bird-like creatures lifted a baby out of its mothers arms. The woman cried out and fought to take her baby away from the creature, but the creature spun and tore, killing the baby and ripping it's limbs apart. In another area, a Maflakof lifted a man up with its tails and smashed him against the ground repeatedly until his skull had cracked open. There was blood everywhere, men stabbing and creatures biting, ripping and clawing. The predators started to move towards camp. The Warriors could not hold up any longer. Brave men who had been injured continued to fight, and as it was close to being over, the silver Ferliobog cried out and with his last breath, killed the Leader of the maflakofs. The ground shattered and the maflakofs began to fall into the ground,bt heir leader falling was the end of the world for them.

Keiraclosed the book and put it next to her. It was all quite confusing. She did not understand why the Maflakofs and Vulturerapters were attacking. Were all creatures and humans not supposed to live in harmony? Keira turned in her bed to face the wall.

A thought struck Keira. She remembered the Ferliobog she had touched and comforted in the makeshift stables. His coat was silver, and in the book, the leader's coat was silver. Keira jumped out of bed suddenly and switched on her light. She felt in her heart that she had to do something about this to make sure it was real. Silver ferliobogs seemed rare, and that night when she had gone exploring, the Ferliobog had somehow managed to heal itself.

Keira fingered her wrist band and slipped it off. She wiped the sweat off it and placed it next to her necklace.
Oh what to do, Keira thought to herself. She had a niggling feeling in her stomach. Something had to be done and Keira knew that she could not waste any time. There had to be an explanation for everything. Keira didn't believe the book had been given to her for no reason.

Author's note:
Thank you for reading.. I'm so blessed to have you guys.. 2,31k reads!? :0 This makes me so happy.. To all of my supporters thank you so much..
This chapter is dedicated to dai-dai for pushing me to get over myself and finally write again! You're awesome and I'm glad to have a sister like you x