chapter 1

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Chapter 1

Something in his eyes showed a hint of mischief while his smile told me otherwise. His eyes were a brilliant shade of red like an expensive wine, but the pout of his mouth was so disconcerting that I wanted to grasp him in my arms and soothe him. But I couldn’t even if I tried. The horizontal pane of glass with the heat of a thousand suns stopped us from joining together. For him to be put out of his misery. To be put out of my misery. I slowly laid my hand against the pane of glass, just to try and feel his face, but instead I was met with something worse.” Ahhhhhhhhh”.All of the skin on my hand had sizzled away like paint in the rain, and slowly the skin began to grow back over the protuberant bones of my fingers and the muscles that were so clearly shown. Shaun looked at me through the glass and sighed with a painful tone that still lingered even after I left the red room with him in it.

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“Seraphine, why are you not eating? My god child answer me”. I looked at Marina and all I could see was the scar that ran down her face like a bubbling abyss. Her eyes stood out from her face like deep dark pins that protruded from her face and her face was a simple line. Nothing less and nothing more. She looked at me, knowing I was looking at her scar and she knew exactly what I thought of it. She knew what everyone thought of it. Disgusting, sordid, ghastly, repelling. All those words were flying through her mind like bullets missing their target. “Seraphine, enough of this idiocy. Now eat, alright?” I looked at her, and nodded. I had never argued with Marina, and I will not start now.

“Seraphine! There you are!” I was hoping to turn around and see my repugnant and older sister, charice, but instead found Veronique by the door, her gear all covered in green blood.” What did you kill now? A raktor?” Veronique only flashed me a cheeky grin, and replied with a smooth tone. “If you must know, it was a dorago. Three heads. Three times the pay. Why weren’t you out there this morning? I was hoping to see you slicing some heads and what not”. “I swear do you always expect me to be outside at midnight slicing off the heads of doragos and bisars?” Veronique couldn’t help but laugh calmly and look at me, the tip of her blade grinding against the leather upholstered seat I was sitting on.” Yes, I do.  But ever since you met Shaun I never see you fighting or doing your jobs. We all live in the one big house seraphine, and you have to make your way too if you want to keep staying here. Plus, I scarcely doubt that Shaun will let you stay in his ‘little glass hut’. Seraphine, you need to do your job, or else you will be let go, okay? Do you understand me?”

My eyes went from their usual emerald green to a bright, brilliant shade of red, and my hands began to tremor. I grabbed the plate with the crackers and gruyere cheese and threw it precisely through the air at Veronique, but she had become faster since the last time I saw her train. She expertly flew through the air, and then gracefully landed on the top landing, looking down on me with a ghastly grin.” You forget seraphine, that while you slave away trying to help Shaun, that the rest of us are training. Remember that the next time you try to throw one of the china, which was marinas’ if you must know.” Veronique jumped down in front of me, barely missing me by centimetres, and she breathed sharply and walked from the room, the scent of her sweat and blood still lingering in the room.

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That night, I lay in the library, thinking of the way Shaun’s face reminded me of my sword, justice. Justice gleamed with perfection and she was expertly carved, her edges curved and precise. Shaun’s face is the same, only his face is like porcelain, the curves created proficiently and his mouth and eyes are set in their places, the end product being the most prized treasure. If only I could touch it. In a way, it’s like a museum. A priceless artefact hangs on the wall, only you can see it and you can’t touch it, yet you want to feel it so badly, to feel the curves and planes of the artefact. If only I could touch Shaun, then I could hold his hand, and we would be united. If only this world wasn’t so cruel.

As I lay there reminiscing about Shaun, I float into a dream world meant only for the subconscious of my mind. A part of my mind that observes everything and gives me the answers I seek.

The water around my feet was glimmering like gold, and the dress that was draped around me was ripped and torn right down to my feet, and in front of me a tall masculine figure erected on top of a gleaming throne made from the finest stones to be found. He eyed me with suspicion and then with a wave of his hand, he summoned upon one of his minions. “Sire, what shall you have me do with your visitor?” I walked up behind the minion and clearly stated my being.” I am not a visitor. I was summoned”. The figure on top of the throne looked down on me once again with his golden eyes scrutinising me like I was one of his minions, and then he did the most ill-bred thing. He smiled. His mouth was occupied with sharp, elongated teeth that gleamed when he answered my unruly statement.” You were not summoned, my dear girl. Your mind takes you to the answers you seek, does it not? You wanted your answers, and this is the place where you can get them”. I eyed him and his minion with a hint of anger, but also fear. How could they be telling me this? And furthermore, how can they accuse me of coming here of my own accord? It’s blasphemy!

“We can hear your thoughts, so be mindful of that seraphine”. I scrutinised them further and queried then further. “How can you hear my thoughts? If you can, then what am I thinking at this exact moment in time?” The man on the podium gave her a questioning look, and then he slowly entered her mind. The force was monstrous as his will power pushed into her mind and opened all of the secrets in her mind, just letting them pour out from her mind to his until she was drained. “You harbour many distressing memories, young one. But some on the other hand, I must say are rather touching.” I looked at this man who entered my mind, seen everything I have ever experienced, and now knows everything that is flowing through my mind right this moment, and I was straining under the pressure. I couldn’t stand it anymore. “I said specifically you could see what I was thinking, not my whole life. You seized it and drained it from my mind like it was a life source.”

The man looked upon seraphine and smiled grimly. “I need to overlook your life to see your problem so I am able to repair it.” I just couldn’t take any more.” How can you help me? I can only get help in the real world, so how are you going to help me?”

“My dear, who said that we are not real?” My face changed instantly. I ran for the entrance that I came in through, and banged against it furiously.” Let me out you vile thing! I have had ENOUGH!” The minion came behind me, and handed me justice, my sword.

 She gleamed in my hands, even though there was no light reflecting off her. As I held her in my hands, I raised her above my head, and slashed the door open to be hailed by a luminescent light so bright, I closed my eyes and wondered forward, further and further, until I felt myself leaning against a pillar.

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“SERAPHINE BLOODY HELL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!” Veronique was holding me in her arms, and justice was lying beside her, discarded and smeared with blood. “Seraphine what is wrong with you?” I looked at her, and shook my head. I wasn’t listening to her now. Not this early in the morning. She shook me and slapped my face to wake me up. “ALRIGHT DAMMIT I’M AWAKE!” I shimmied up the pillar that was supporting me, and felt a severe pain in my shoulder. I looked at my shoulder and found it covered in blood, and regarded it as if it was a slight ruffle, and then walked down the hallway into the room which housed my things, and from what I did not know, Shaun.

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