BOOK of KAIROS: KING

Prologue

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Prologue

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YEAR 456, Entry #12

It happened again. Something was there. I know it was there. The back of my head burned. Watching, staring,— a low guttural growl leaving from whatever it was following behind me. I can feel it getting closer. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up in alarm as I pushed my legs to run faster, away from whatever it is that could grab a hold of me.

It had been like this for who knows how long. Hours, days, years, months? My lungs burn and my limbs ache. A part of me wanted to stop and let this entity catch me. Despite how long I have been running, I have never dared to figure out what this thing is behind me.

I have felt its presence before. It would be the same scene over, over, and over again. I woke up somewhere strange and ran over, over, and over again. I get tired. I stop and—

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A sharp gasp left Kori, making her sit straight up from her bed. Her dream— no, memory, nightmare?
An exasperated groan left her lips. Whatever happened behind her eyelids always left her in a cold sweat— every damn time. Her clipped nails clawed at her throat harmlessly as if to guide the air to enter her body. The familiar feeling of lightheadedness was destroying her mind, pushing her fingers to her forehead to rid the incoming headache. The air harshly went in her body as she leaned her head on her hand on top of an upright knee, making circles on her temple with her thumb as she tried her best to remember what this nightmare was this time.
She counted her breath— one, two, three...
Kori Jian was a mess, more disoriented than usual, and maybe out of her mind if someone were to see her right now. Her locks of white hair that usually brushed on her shoulders were sticking out in various places. The icky feeling of sweat sticking to her skin made her wipe it with the collar of her shirt, her mother's silver locket dangling around her red, lightly scratched neck as she moved. Her blanket was strewn across her legs, lightly drenched in her sweat. Her pillow was found way away and was likely kicked off her bed in the plight of her nightmare.
Kori blinked rapidly as she tried to remember where she was. An immediate look across her bed was the mirror that reflected her well-built thirteen-year-old body that she had accumulated through years of training. She sighed in relief through her nose.
Right, she is in her bedroom on the second floor on the right of the stairs, inside a small cottage just ways away from Tifta, a small village just on the outskirts of the Capital.
It was warm, old, and comfy, like a grandma's house, she lightly joked once. It was not much but it was something she called home for the past two years.
She continued to count her breaths, grasping her locket for comfort with a picture that hung a picture of her little brother and mother.
"Did it visit again?" Her uncle's voice made her flinch and she turned her head toward her now open door of her room. Her blue eyes laid on her uncle's droopy amethyst-eyes auburn auburn-headed uncle.
'Oh, it's just uncle,' the thirteen-year-old breathlessly thought.
Kasar Jian was a rugged-looking man. His usual auburn hair ponytail was untied and messily rested on his broad shoulders. A burning cigarette sat on his lips, and his amethyst eyes resembled the sky of the setting sun staring down at her with something pooling in his eyes. The girl did not feel well enough to check what he felt at the moment.
"Same old." Kori noticed the itchiness in her throat and winced, weakly coughing.
Kasar did not need to ask. His niece looked like she ran a marathon, the sounds of her screams still ring in his ears. He didn't like how his niece replied, implying that she was somehow getting used to her nightmares that visited every now and then.
The man sighed as a puff of gray smoke left his nose, looking at his niece as he leaned against the doorway of her room.
She watched him awkwardly scratch the back of his head, pushing the cigarette down on the ashtray that was just outside the door, and walked towards her bed where he begrudgingly sat down. The man grabbed a pitcher, poured water into the glass, and gave it to his niece, who drank as if she hadn't drunk in years.
Kori was tense, rightfully so. It felt real to her, after all, she couldn't ask for help nor could she rest. Nevertheless, she stopped finding an exit, finding answers, or why she started having those nightmares in the first place.
The warm presence of her uncle made her relax. He offered an open arm to which she immediately was wrapped in his arm. It was just enough, the little lady thought, it was just her uncle's silent way of saying that he was here.
Kori looked at her uncle whose eyes were staring at the closet that he made for her on her 9th birthday. With it hung a calendar with red encircling a specific day.
November 2nd, the day when her mother died.
"Did you ever figure out what happened to her?" Kori asked. Somehow, she felt as if asking the question again would give her another fruitless pursuit in finding her mother's murderer.
And how right she was, looking at her uncle's eyebrows furrowing at her question.
Kori wasn't the only one running around in a wild goose chase. Kasar had been It in this chase this time, finding every little clue about the death of his little sister. It had been two years since she died and two years since he began searching. Kori thought it to be useless but she never had the heart to stop him from searching.
"I won't give up, y'know." He said. Kori couldn't help but smile into her uncle's shirt as she burrowed further into his embrace, "and neither should you."
Kori closed her eyes, it felt heavier now that the shock of her nightmare subsided. "We'll make her rest peacefully, right uncle?" She whispered, leaning into her uncle's body.
Kasar nodded as he patted down Kori's stray hairs. From his niece's steady breaths, he knew that she had fallen asleep.
Placing her head down on her pillow and blankets covering her body, he pushed back her hair from her forehead.
"And justice will be served."