Exᴛʀᴇᴍᴇ || Tʜᴇ Cʜᴏsᴇɴ Eɪɢʜᴛ Bᴏᴏᴋ Fɪᴠᴇ

Chapter Five// Closure

Sasha
I like to think that I've seen almost everything. But, as we travelled through the villages in Stetriol, I realize that's wrong. Sure, I've seen the luscious forests of Eura, the wild savanna of Nilo, the stunning cities in Zhong, and the perfect-painted mountains of Amaya, but I've never seen the darker side of the world. That's what I see now, walking through the barren streets alongside my team. I see poverty, in the shambles of buildings. I see hunger, in the eyes of the children that sit in the alleyways. And, perhaps most of all, I see fear, in the quickened paces. In the wary glances and hushed whispers that follow us through town after town.

"I just don't get it." I said to Zay one morning, as we walked through the gates of yet another village. "How could the Devourer– and the Greencloaks, for that matter– let this happen?"

"Every country has its scum." She answered. "We're just not so good at hiding ours."

"That–" I started to say, but she suddenly stopped. "Zay?"

"Don't." Her teeth were gritted together, eyes focused somewhere across the street.

"What...?" I slowly followed her gaze. There was a couple standing across the way. Though their backs were turned, I could tell immediately that they were her parents.

"Sasha? Zay?" Tyler and the others had paused. "What's the holdup?"

"I thought you said we were specifically going to avoid Zay's village." I hissed to him, reaching out toward Zay as I did so.

"Well, since we had to take a detour..." Tyler trailed off. "Why?"

"Because–"

Zay shook off my hand and moved away, in the direction of her parents. Her fists were clenched, her jaw set with what I could only think to call anger.

"Zay, wait." I tried to grab her again, but she avoided me.

"Are those who I think they are?" Navia, who had come up silently beside me, murmured in alarm.

"If you think they're her parents, then yep." I stepped forward, cautiously following Zay. Navia cursed under her breath and followed me, her hand drifting toward the spear strapped across her back. I palmed the hilt of my sword as well, feeling the tension rise in the air. Zay stalked ahead of us, her face a mask of unreadable turmoil.

The woman, Zay's mother, turned and froze as she recognized her daughter. She reached for Zay's father's arm, tugging it slightly. He turned as well, the confusion on his face slowly hardening as he realized what he was looking at.

Navia and I sped up, walking just behind Zay as she strode purposefully toward them.

"Zay?" The woman's voice shook slightly as we came closer. "Zay... you're alive."

"Mom, get away from him." Zay planted herself assertively in front of her parents, not even flinching as her father flung a disgusted look her way.

"Don't listen to what she says." Her father snapped, roughly shoving his wife back. He stepped right up to Zay, so close they were almost nose to nose. "When you ran off, I hoped you'd gone for good." He snarled.

Zay held eye-contact, her breath hardly hitching. "That was my plan." She hissed right back.

"Then why are you here?" Her father glared at us. "And with Greencloaks, no less." I looked toward Navia, distressed by the fact that he knew what we were.

"I'm fighting for Erdas." Zay answered, her voice trembling with barely suppressed rage. "Against my own brother, who is–"

"A better child then you ever could've dreamt to be." Her father rumbled, his lips curling away from rotting, blackened teeth. I nearly gagged. "And fighting for our side. The side of glory!" He laughed, though it was an ugly and spiteful sound.