The Final Hope: Awakening

Chapter Four

Staggering with exhaustion and remorse, we arrived at our facility. Ryan pushed back the book of secrets, whilst I opened the rucksack and took out the book and the parchment. We wanted to take a look at what they were first, before preparing to leave; we may not get another chance after all.

"Let me see that," Ryan and Freya said in unison. Ryan grabbed the book whilst Freya took the parchment, leaving me empty handed. Patiently, I waited for them to finish reading.

"This, looks like some sort of a spell," said Freya, mildly excited. She seemed to be recovering from Strith's death.

"What does it do?" I asked, wondering why that person had died with it in his hands.

"Uh, I'm not sure," she replied in a high pitched voice, replacing it on the table. "What about you Ryan, what have you found?"

"Something interesting," he answered. "It's the diary of one of the students that died in that classroom. Here, look at this entry." He placed the book on the desk so that we could all see it clearly. I could read it clearly now:

Year: 39465 of the Droathian calendar.

Dear Diary,

The war has been going on for over 8 years now. Most of our race has already been slaughtered; it is a war that we cannot win. After my mom's death, dad abandoned me to a refugee shelter. Most people here are my own age, about 15, or younger, because all the adults are forced to fight for the overall survival of our species. Apart from us are the elders, who think that, before the end of the year, we'll become extinct. That'll be it. No more school or playing with my friends or talking to my family. No more me. It would be the end of the kryths.

Honestly, I don't know what I should do or how I should feel. I'm scared, I don't want to die but, strangely, I'm glad that I'll finally be able to meet my mother in the afterlife. Maybe I'm thinking that because it's the only comforting thought I have left. But it's one which I don't ever want to let go.

I also feel hatred towards the draiths for causing all this. If they hadn't shown up, none of this would have happened. My mom wouldn't have died. I can't ever forgive those murderers.

What's worse is the very thought of our good-for-nothing king. It is all his fault. He is the one that started everything. My dad said that he brought those draiths into our world. That idiot. I don't know how or why he did what he did, but if he hadn't done so, everything would be fine right now. He was another person I could never forgive. I loathe him with every fibre of my being. I hope the Almighty One would punish his soul until the end of time.

The room became dead silent.

"That's... so sad," said Freya with a croaking voice. "First was Strith, and now this! This world had gone through so much," her eyes were tearing up again.

"They were children, almost our age yet their lives were so much more painful," I agreed. "Guess war really is as horrible and brutal as it's made out to be."

"Well, at least it answers some of our questions," said Ryan uncaringly, "like the name of this god-forsaken world is Droatha," said Ryan.

"And the names of the poor people were kryths," added Freya. "Although, I still don't get how the king brought those draiths into this world. Strith said he tried to find and use their power, but didn't the paintings just show him taking out a few corpses before the war began?"

"I don't know," replied Ryan. "However, he wasn't shown to have done anything else in that tableau, so that action must have been how he 'brought' them to this world."