Kendrick POV - The Night GameWhen our breathing finally returned to normal, I pulled out of Hope, removed the condom, tied it up, and threw it in the trash on the side of the bed. Then I lay down again and pulled the female body against me, gently stroking her left arm."Kendrick..." Hope began."Xii... Just sleep." I spoke in a low voice and gave her a kiss on the forehead."It's okay."Her voice was low, groggy, and it didn't take long to feel that she was asleep. I closed my eyes, I wanted to spend the whole night making Hope scream for me, but I know how tired she is, both physically and emotionally.----I wake up missing something, the bed is too cold, her smell is so faint right now. I shake my head lightly, rubbing my eyes, and notice that the bathroom light is on. I look at the time, it is early morning, 2:30 a.m.I get up and go to the bathroom. I see Hope already fully dressed, her amethyst eyes show something completely different than I expected. They are cold and distant
Hope POV - Tuesday morning'Rachel, where am I going to train?'I asked via telepathy to Rachel. Normally in the morning I would train with the guys in my pack, but only Kendrick was in the castle.'Today I'm in arena 1, with the guys who started with you.'I took a deep breath, bringing my hand to my neck, feeling the black mark, and took another deep breath. For me, who wanted to avoid Dylan, it didn't seem possible.'Um... okay, fine.'I agreed and started walking towards the arena that Rachel indicated. I put my hands in my pockets, when I was close I could feel the mark start to throb, but it was calmer, quite bearable.
Hope POV - Tuesday LunchYou know when you feel so lost that it doesn't matter where you look and there is no way out? That's what I'm feeling. No matter what happened or what I did, everything seemed to lead to the same place. My defeat was inevitable.The spiral was endless, no matter how many entrances and exits I had, I always ended up falling down, either at the top, at the bottom, and it all started again. I am in the middle of those stairs, with so many paths to follow and yet meeting at some point.For someone like me, who can see about 40 moves ahead, the chessboard was still the same, with me pushing the king's piece and accepting my fate. The blood dripping down the edges of the board and the faces of those I had killed being placed on the pieces and squares of the board.
Hope POV - Tuesday afternoon"You never said much about him." Rachel looked at me with raised eyebrows."I don't have much to say. He's stronger than me and most people I've ever lived with. He doesn't care what I am or how I am." I smiled a rather sad corner smile. "But for reasons beyond my own choice, I can't be with him.""Got it. Is he of a different race?" Rachel asked.I shrugged only, that would be my answer. I looked up and arched my left eyebrow watching my recruits fight, the smell of their blood permeating the air, but it wasn't strong enough to make me want to take it.I remained silent, arms crossed, watching my recruits. I could see their every move, see their muscles twitching before an attack or an escape, hear their hearts beating, some faster than others, but there was something about them all. They were enjoying it, the adrenaline of fighting like that, wild and with the only thought of winning.My face remained impassive for most of the moment until I noticed some
Dylan POV - Tuesday AfternoonI know she is like this with me because she needs me and I happened to be the closest person to help her. How can I have any chance of Hope coming to me because she loves me? Sin almost destroyed the fragile relationship I had with her.But how can I deny that the moment she came towards me and kissed me made my heart stop beating for a few seconds and happiness invaded me? I can't.Knowing that she is infertile is like a bucket of cold water, I didn't want children now, but I wanted them in the future, and having Hope as their mother would be my perfection. I know this indifferent thick shell is for outsiders, for her friends and the people she loves Hope gives herself to with passion."Hope... I love you..." I whispered, feeling her scent grow stronger as her body tensed up, but she didn't try to escape."I know..." Her voice is an almost inaudible whisper."I don't love you just because of the bond. It may have started that way, but the more time I spe
Hope POV - Tuesday/afternoonI awoke to a kiss on my temple, feeling the warmth of Dylan's body against mine, his gentle touch making me want to stay like this, as I feel complete. I let out a low sigh, completely relaxed in that position."Come on Hope, Miss Clark's class will be starting soon." Dylan's voice is low and against my ear makes me shudder. "I know you don't want to miss your training. I wanted to stay with you like this longer too, but...""Um..." I can't hold back the urge and turn slightly, meeting his lips. The embrace narrows making my breasts press against his chest, I can feel that Dylan was starting to get aroused just like me.Our lips touch lightly, but before it deepens he pulls away, caressing my face lightly, his eyes d
Hope POV - Tuesday afternoon/eveningWe left the bathroom, there were a few people around, but no one really commented on anything. After all, it was not so unusual for scenes like this to happen, even more so between two destined people.As I accepted the deal with him, I am very close to him, with my head leaning on his shoulder, while his hand entangles me around the waist. We don't need to talk, just feel these moments and delight in them.As we arrive in the classroom, Dylan gives me a light kiss on the lips, then goes to his desk and I go to mine. Everyone was looking at us curiously, but neither he nor I needed to explain our actions.I took my notebook out of my backpack, opened it, and it didn't take a minute for Miss Clark to come in.
Hope POV - Tuesday night / early morning"Really?! And then you said I have a bunch of stories." Samantha smiled, interested."So, we were hunting a Stone Giant Spectre corrupted by Tartarus ash." I started to tell her, closing my eyes, remembering what happened. "Obviously, despite the training in the Northern Kingdom, I hadn't learned that much of a lesson." I laughed low. "He was trying to overcome the barrier between the world above to the Mekai. There is a small gap between the plans, so we were chasing him, and although I heard the order to retreat, I didn't follow it. After all, it was too good a prize for me to pass up.""Okay, I think I know where this is going." Samantha gave a low laugh."So, there are a few levels of depth in this pl
Hope POVI know what I need to do, and I don't regret this decision. I know they will cry, but I can only pray that the Gods guide their next steps. I hope they find their second chance, that they can be happy without me.As I grab Melvin's collar, pushing him back and bringing the darkness along with me I see him smile in a corner, but that smile will disappear, because I use my left hand to pierce the place where his heart is and I see the surprise appear and die in those eyes that I once loved. I loved Melvin and not this corrupted version of him.I can feel the darkness around me surrounding me, hurting me, breaking the armor that covers me, and falling into that endless pit and I don't know how long I fought and defended myself, but I finally hit the ground. I've gotten used to the taste on my lips. Finally, I raise my eyes and I want to bow before the beings that are in front of me, the power that emanates from them is so gigantic that my soul shudders, and doubts begin to arise
Note: This chapter will be written in the third person because there are so many characters involved.There couldn't be any soul that didn't feel the grief, for even the Gods are crying, that heavy and freezing rain is leaning on their bodies and their souls understand that this day is a day of Mourning.For those who can see the other world, they could see the Harvesters walking over the battlefields collecting the souls that were making their way to the Mekai.The tears of children who had lost their parents and parents who had lost their children mingled with the Divine tears as if trying to console each other...That night had been exhausting, it had been heavy, it had been a disaster and as much as it was known that the Corruption had retreated, there was still no feeling that it had been won.It was simply all about loss because those who survived now had to bury those who died and had to mourn for those who were lost.The feeling of no winner is so dense that you can't hear the
Erick POVWhen my brother finally realized what a foolish thing he was doing, I saw that Kaiden was fighting a she-wolf and I knew that the two of them had been destined, my Beast told me what had happened.I approach Hope and soon I can see several smaller creatures piercing the blockade that is around as the other four chosen are focused on defeating Melvin. Using the movements of my hands, the chains that are at my feet begin to move to wrap around, trap and exterminate those smaller creatures that dared to approach.It wasn't tiring to do, just boring, because none of them had any power to compare to mine. I notice Hope is standing still, looking at the movements of her chosen ones, she is smiling happily, with a dreamy expression.She's seeing what the end of that fight will be like, and from the looks of it, it's going to be a good one.I turn my attention to a shadow that manages to gather closer, it had fed on the corruption that had not been annihilated before and that rain o
Dylan POVI don't want to believe what's in front of me, when Melvin's name echoed from Hope's lips I wanted to just explode with rage. How was this possible? I almost lost my Mate several times because she was afraid of what would happen if I marked her...I almost lost her because she had killed Melvin... I almost lost her because there is a curse on the place where my mark will be on her... I almost lost her because of that?!'No!'Sin shouted in my mind, our anger turning to Wrath as the images of the distant future flash by and I can sense that Marcus and Lestat share the same sentiment. Yes, I would have respected Hope's oath in that other future, because I would have seen that she was already on the right path, that she was already happy in her world...'That creature in front of us will be erased from existence!'Sin told me and I agreed with him, because after all when I met Hope I had seen a girl who used various tricks to hide how broken she was. Hope didn't want to get clo
Kendrick POVI didn't get to have much contact with Melvin, sure I had trained with him, but we weren't friends or close... When the first reports came out that Hope and Melvin were dating, Night immediately wanted to go back to the pack, but what were we going to do? Stop Hope from dating?That wasn't an option, so I focused on training, trying to forget that the person I loved was with someone else... Then came the news of Hope's first temper tantrum... I didn't see it, but from the reports, I knew she had been distraught and again Night wanted to go back to see her, but again, what could I do?What I did was just promise myself that I would stay strong enough so that Hope would never have to fight again in a way that could lose her control. That's how I began to unlock the powers Night had and after a year I was kneeling before the King reciting the Oath of Loyalty and Protection.I didn't do this at all without my father's permission, back then how could we have predicted that Hop
Marcus POVIt is no longer news that I am old, that I have been walking on this plane for many, many years... I have had opportunities to choose to die, rest and then reincarnate... I have had loves and enemies, family and loneliness...You all know that I no longer have descendants, that I chose not to bond with anyone anymore, and that I was simply being an observer on this plane, concerned with protecting humanity since I was Created for that.So I felt again, I lived again, I desired again... The one responsible for that was a girl who invaded my base and looked into my eyes saying that I would train her. The SilverRage pack had already requested a Delta who showed exceptional skills and had some Divine gifts. I denied it. How many times had I heard of some "saint" and it was nothing but nonsense?One afternoon the alarms at my base went off and no one could locate the person responsible, but the runes my sister had placed all over the place indicated that there was someone underc
Lestat POVWhat is the sun? It seems like a simple question, doesn't it? Some would say that it is the star that makes up the solar system... Others would say that it is a red dwarf, a classification of the types of stars that exist... Many would still say that it is what gives life to Earth...For me, the Sun is something greater, something that has brought me Light in times of Darkness, it is what has made me continue to have faith in the Gods, the One who blessed me and accepted me as I am... The Sun can be welcoming or simply burn everything!Right now I am the Son of the Sun, but I don't want to welcome, I simply want to burn! I want to consume and see that creature disappear amid My Light!I comforted Hope several times, even though she was appearing to be whole, I could see her pieces and the way she was bleeding. I could see through her soul, and I wanted to show her the beauty that was in the Light!I didn't know what I needed to do, but the Beast that dwells within me had al
Kaiden POVHow? Why? When? Even standing in front of me I don't want to believe it, it can't be real, Melvin would never become what I'm seeing. The boy that I knew, that I lived with, that was my best friend! That boy would never have chosen to become this creature so... so... I can't even find a word.Everything seems to be slowing down, and it really was, one second stretched into so much more and as I hear and see what my beloved is suffering and how the future could have been my disbelief turned to anger.'We will avenge her!'I heard my wolf speak, and I shuddered, I don't just want to avenge my beloved, I want to destroy that creature because that being was not my friend and never would be! Melvin, the warrior within the SilverRage pack had died and that was an aberration!I don't fight this pressure that is around. I don't want to, because I know that when I get free I will turn and I don't know if I will want to control myself.I let Lestat and Erick keep that bubble of time
Erick POVSomething inside me wants to get out, my Beast is restless, as those images pass, this sensation, this feeling increases and it is like a poison because I need to release it.What that boy had chosen was much more than just choosing the wrong side and I want to exterminate him. Yes, I don't just want to kill him. I want to eliminate any trace that he ever existed on Earth.I'm shaking, and I can feel my aura expanding and the space between everyone became heavier and yet when that creature screamed I wasn't able to protect Hope as I saw her fall to her knees and the smell of her blood spread to a catalyst for everyone to want to move and counter-attack but we are still "trapped" in this little bubble of time, not because of Hope but because of my aura.Not just mine, Lestat's aura is gigantic and blends with mine in such a way that even gravity begins to bend, just as it bends before the sun. I manage to walk over to Hope and help her up."You tried," I spoke calmly, a calm