Earth's End

The Orekreaum

       My heart fell as I looked out into the living room. Where Kelly and Alex had once been sleeping peacefully, the blanket that we had crammed underneath had been ripped to shreds. Alex was to the left, a knife to his throat, his oppressor back up in front of the couch. A trickle of blood dripped down his neck where the blade had cut into his skin.

Melted wax clung to the floor near Kelly's knees, the stick and holder had skidded underneath a side table. The man had Kelly in a chokehold with the inside of his elbow. Both had their wrists zip tied behind their backs. The man holding Kelly smiled before beginning what I'm sure was a heavily rehearsed speech.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is. The very girl that everyone thinks can rush in and save the day. You look all of twelve. How could you possibly think that you can defeat me, an Orekreaum?" My voice caught in my throat. I had no idea what an Orekreaum was, let alone that he was one, but from the panic-stricken expressions on Alex and Kelly's faces I could tell that what it was, I was supposed to be terrified for my life.

"You're an Orekreaum?!" Alex asked, unable to contain himself. "But...but how? Your powers or only that of an M.A.!" His outburst had cost him. The man holding the knife to his throat dug the blade inward, toward his jugular. More blood began to drip and I feared that another outburst would likely do him in.

"Just because I possess certain powers does not mean that I flaunt them around to establish myself as a target, don't be foolish. I never understood others of my species. Why would you go through the trouble of making yourself the most powerful creature of all time and then turn around and get yourself killed because you paraded it around. Of course the heroes are going to come after you if you're that stupid! Luckily for me, however, my only loose ends are a couple of kids and their parents, whom I've had captured." Parents? Plural? To my knowledge, he just had my mom, likely drugged up with an army of guards around her.

I looked around again at the familiar cabin as realization dawned on me. This was the cabin from my vision. He had been torturing her in this very room and I didn't even recognize it. But if this was the cabin, then where was she?

As if he had heard my thoughts, he called to people outside of the cabin, "Oi! Bring in the captives!" He then turned back, sending us a venomous smile as they were brought in, "These are my insurance policies."

My mom came in first, her auburn-colored hair fell unevenly over her eyes, as she was pushed into the cabin by one of the beefy men. Next, came another woman whom I didn't recognize. She had long, dark brown hair that had once been pulled back into a ponytail but was now sticking out in all directions.

Kelly's face lit up in horror, "MOM!" The man behind tightened his arm around his windpipe and he sputtered, trying desperately to get closer to her, tears running down his face.

But Kelly's mom did nothing. She simply kneeled in front of the guy restraining her, staring almost dazed, at the ground before her, motionless. After a moment, I realized that my mother was staring the same, almost as if they were not staring at the ground but through it. Had they been drugged? What to he do to them?

"You can see my fine work," He says, proudly. "They won't speak or even acknowledge your presence, as they can't see any of you."

"You-you broke them." I choked out, tears flooding my eyes. "What have you done?"

He clenched and unclenched his fist. "No, you were exactly right. I broke them. It's interesting to see the difference between a human's and an M.A.s endurance levels."

"You're sick!" spat Alex. Enough blood had poured down the front of him, that there was now a puddle of blood forming on the ground in front of him. I looked away, shaking my head, unable to take the sight.

"That's the second time I've heard that word. What's an M.A.?" I asked. Every part of me wanted to rush over to help one of them, any of them. But with Alex on the verge of bleeding out, Kelly being slowly suffocated, and our parents sitting there, unable to defend themselves, I knew it would only take one swift motion for them to all, well...

But the least I could do was keep him talking. Keep all of them distracted from further torturing my friends until there was something more that I could do. I didn't know how exactly my powers worked, but maybe if I waited long enough, a vision would come to be, like it had back at the bunker.

But something unexpected happened. The man laughed. He actually fucking laughed. Before he lost anymore of his composure, he cleared his throat. "Oh, you're not joking. I knew that you didn't know much, but I wasn't aware that you knew so little. To answer your question, you are an M.A.. I was an M.A.. Your friends here are M.A.s. M.A.s are those with Magical Abilities. We are beings whom, depending on their abilities, hold immense power. From what I here, you are incredibly powerful. It's just too bad that you don't know how to use them. Now, enough chat. You know where to take them." He made eye contact with the man that was suffocating Kelly nodded. I was going to say something in protest but he had removed his arm around Kelly's neck and they man holding the knife to Alex's did the same with his blade. They pushed them out the door, with me and our parents not far behind.

I wasn't sure where we were going, but at this point, just about anything was better than watching my friends be tortured and being able to do nothing about it. So, with a blade to poking into my ribs, I followed them out the door and we walked.