[ENG] The Exiled : Dark Stars

ลำดับตอนที่ #9 : Severed Ties

8

The Exiled: Dark Stars

Severed Ties

A small boat floated downstream in a moonlit night. The wind caressed my body as I perked my head up to look at where I was going.

There was no trace of Luminette or Rachid. My desperate search in the library didn’t give any satisfying results. All data about Exiles or the punishment of digging too deep into Paradise was censored and burned, nowhere to be found. The only thing I knew was, that if I wanted to meet her again, I have to find her at her house.

It was empty. All traces of Luminette von Rovixtein was erased from the records of Paradise. I mourned her deeply. She was my best friend, the person I was the closest to after Zyen. And I will find out what happened to her, no matter what the cost may be.

My last resort was the forbidden area. The residential area of Paradise was huge, and I had to sneak through tight security to go there, but I had no choice but to go.

However, they caught me.

I was sent back for house arrest. I couldn’t go to school or talk to anyone for months. I had to go through endless sessions of counseling and attitude reform. Then, I made a foolish slip that cost my life.

I… commented about Paradise.

“Why does Paradise have to do this?”

That was what I mumbled when I got out of house arrest. It was such a foolish mistake that I wanted to sew my mouth and bang my head on the wall. A wall with spiky metal.

For one sentence, I had to go ontrial, and the decided that I no longer belonged in Paradise. They would make me an Exile, and send me in a batch along with a few other kids to the Outside World. I would be alone forever, a sinner not allowed to return to Paradise ever again.

In Paradise, everyone was equal. Some are more equal than others. But, Exiles are not part of Paradise. They’re trash that our utopian land didn’t even bother to execute.

The Seccharine Wolves felt devastated. My parent’s eyes were heartbreaking. I betrayed the whole tribe. I could never see them nor Zyen ever again. Guilt and shame crushed me like a wrecking ball smashing a collapsing shack.

This event was half a year ago. A few months later, after they found out we were still alive, they sent the Wolves after us.

The poison of the Outside could not harm us, and they were disappointed we didn’t die. It was going to be an easy and effortless death, just send them out to their graves. The blood of sinners didn’t have to spill on sacred land, but things turned out the other way.

My eyelids flew open when I felt a hand run up and down my back, which somehow, was bare. The room was white, and sunlight shone in as a monotonous gray blur. I was on a big, white bed covered in fresh sheets. The wall was smooth grey. It was quiet, except for someone’s loud breathing, maybe even my own. My body pressed against something-no, someone. A hard and firm body. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw golden hair. It was Zyen.

“I figured that if you’d reject me, might as well kill you alive rather than make you die an easy death.” He said, noticing that I was awake. “You tried to defy Paradise, a little girl, a perfect being like you. But you failed. I thought you were so pathetic, to have guts to speak out but end up as a disgusting Exile.”

I shrieked as he tried to reach further down my back. Every part of my body moved in protest, but I just couldn’t seem to move. A sharp, stinging pain shot in my arms, and I saw him remove a needle and threw it away. Was I drugged? No way!

“Tell me, why did you choose that pitiful vampire but not me?”

“Because you…were trying…to kill…me…! And that…you said…before….I was…exiled…”

“I don’t want to see you ever again.” He repeated the nightmarish sentence, and my eyes open even wider. “I did say that. Because you ended up so pitiful. Poor little thing.”

“Say it…already! Are you going to…help me…or kill me!?”

“How far did you go with that guy? A kiss? Or even more—“

“Nothing!” I yelled with all my strength, trying to escape his embrace. It wasn’t the kind of embrace that made me warm. It was an embrace that made me sweat and shiver with fear. “Raleigh is…a friend…I have to save…”

“I can tell. With me so close, your heart still thinks of him. Just now you wanted him to save you. You’ve forgotten all about me, Destiny.”

“I didn’t! You’ve become a jealous psychopath paranoid freak, Zyen!”

“Before I send you back to Paradise for execution, I want to finish up the business of the past. We never finished up our relationship, did we?”

I had a sense of what is to come, so I pushed hard with all my might. All alarms in my body were screaming frantically. Then, I saw Zyen’s black eyes, one of them bloodshot and broken from Elliah’s explosion. I swallowed my scream.

“What did you do to my friends?”

He didn’t answer. I assumed they got away. I remembered Raleigh’s weakness, how he clung to me out of desperation, not love. His protectiveness was just an obligation because I offered him blood when he was about to die. It was just a mutual benefit, but Zyen translated our connection to something else. Sure, I admit sometimes it got way out of control. Last night was a perfect example. Zyen brought my hatred on himself, and he had no right to judge Raleigh of what he is.

“If you are not going to love me, might as well make you hate me to the core of your soul. That way, you’ll remember me. And your memories of me will not fade away to apathy. Then, I can leave a permanent scar on your body. A small token to remember me by.”

“Get away!” I used the last bit of my strength to step away as far as possible. “Leave me be! I loved you, but that wasn’t love! It was just a schoolgirl crush, a temporary attachment! I know your true nature, and I hate you for it!”

Zyen paused, giving me more time to run. I know too well I was helpless. It’s either I die there, got destroyed and crushed by this madman, or hope for the miracle of my friends coming to my aid. A wind stirred inside my body, and I pictured a swarm of blue butterflies, mystical and magical, whirling around in a hurricane all around me. I felt the air tremble and smelled the scent of fresh flowers. I heard their silence fluttering, their gleeful laugh. All I could see was blue.

Zyen jolted backwards as I summoned blue butterflies. They flew straight into his face, wings of delicate petals made cuts as sharp as glass. In a heartbeat, Zyen was on the ground, whimpering like an injured puppy. My eyes scanned for an exit. I picked up a chunk of salt stone and threw it at the window, breaking it. Glass shattered everywhere. I wrapped the white blanket firmly around myself and jumped out the window. Who knew I could summon a swarm of glass butterflies! I tried it again, but this time, nothing happened. Just a gust of wind. It seems I could not control them at will.

The building was sixteen stories high. The strong wind almost shook me out of balance, but I glided down. I was free.