Forbidden Entity: The Key ('The Key')

by Pia Philip

  “HELP!” She screamed, “Guys!” She found her way back to where her friends were, at first she couldn’t spot them until she saw them in the shadows. They were motioning for her to be quiet; she glanced around and saw the door of City Halls open and Giorgio walk out. She slowed for a better look, which proved to be a fatal mistake. The Chimera Pounced out the darkened alleyway she was just in and landed a mere two meters away from her. She gave another high pitched shriek it could barely e labeled human and started running in all directions to try and get out the way of the claws that seemed to be aiming for her throat. And all this time, she was under the impression her so called father wanted her alive. She looked back to see how close the chimera was to her and quite literally had to arch her back so that the claws didn’t touch her. Unfortunately this caused Alex to lose her balance and she stumbled into an untidy front roll. She shoved her hair out of her face just in time to see the chimera pounce on her. She did a quick slide on its hind legs rendering it unbalanced. She quickly got off the floor and spun round to see Max and Sam running out of the shadows. They were still a good 100 meters away from her, which equals to 30 seconds away. She was certain that if she could hold off for that long, Max could stop this thing. She didn’t know how, but she knew he could. Weather he would however, she had no idea. Alex started running once more, this time towards Max hoping for the best. Unfortunately she did not get very far, in her calculations of how to survive, she made a reckless mistake and ran in front of the chimera that grabbed her by its tail and yanked her back. She let a scream escape as she got flung in the air, looking round she saw she was not the only one screaming. Everyone in the area was screaming and running for shelter, no one even thinking of helping her. To think she was fooled into thinking she was surrounded by Angels weren’t they supposed to help and protect you. Not if it concerned keeping their skin alive. She searched for Max and spotted him and Sam arguing. Typical.

  “Stop it! In case you haven’t noticed I’m kind of dying here!” she cried as the snakes grasp on her tightened, but they didn’t even look at her, they just continued fighting. There had to be someone else who could help her. Her eyes fell on Giorgio but he stared back at her, he was talking to someone next to him who looked severely panicked as he glanced from her and Giorgio. Alex could feel something warm around her neck as the anger started to boil inside of her.

  “Oh, for god’s sake!” She cried in anger, “Someone just get this chimera away from me!”

  That was when it happened. There was shaking and almost by instinct her hand shot to the necklace her mother had gave her. She knew it was the only thing that could help her right now. By now, she could barely breath but she was not going to die, not today and certainly not here.

  Alex grabbed the chimeras tale and squeezed it as hard as she could, hoping and praying that the necklace would come through for her.

  “Come on, come on, come on,” She begged as she dug her nails in and held her breath.

  Thud. Thud. Thud.

  The slow thudding of a heartbeat rung in the air. She wasn’t sure if anyone else could hear it but she most definitely could .With every beat there was a shake and her vision shook. She could see double. She could feel something warm start rising up through her body and before she knew it, she was falling, and falling fast. Alex closed her eyes preparing for the impact that never came. Instead she fell into something firm and war, Sam’s arms. He gently deposited her on the ground next to were Max was hiding. After taking a few breaths to calm her racing heart, she stood up and stomped up to Max.

  “Why didn’t you do anything?” She asked in anger, “I could’ve died.”

  “Well, if Giorgio knew I was here then, I’m pretty sure, he would be able to put two and two together and figure out who you were,” Max explained as he started walking down towards the gate that lead out of city.

  They could’ve ran to it but Max insisted on them blending in and not being too strange, although to be honest Alex was pretty sure running out of the city after being attacked by a chimera was considered normal. She was still so scared that she couldn’t help but look back every few seconds and jump at the slightest movements. That was what alerted her. Shadows should not be moving when there was no light yet they were, and they weren’t even human shadows. They were that of a building. That rung warning alarms in her brain.

  “Max…” she said as she tugged at his shirt, refusing to take her eyes off the shadow, “I think there’s something following us.”

  This stopped Max in his tracks. He slowly turned around checking the area,

  “Where and who?”.

  “I don’t know!” She hissed, “But it’s in the shadow of that building and its following us, more specifically me, I’m guessing.”

  “Actually, it could also be Sam,” Max corrected.

  “Wait-What?” Sam asked suddenly alarmed. He had been studying the map that Max had given him.

  “Well it isn’t uncommon for humans to stumble into this realm, but they almost always end up dead or as slaves,” Max explained as a smirk emerged, “So if anyone gets suspicious, we can always say you’re our slave.”

  “Don’t start you two,” Alex growled as she backed into Sam, “I think we should just get the hell of here.”

  They turned and started a steady fast walk when she saw Giorgio up in front of them. He was talking to some officials, she guessed a city officer or something.

  “Max,” She hissed, “Giorgio at 12 o’clock!”

  The moment those words escaped from her mouth, Max ducked and rolled into the shadow, which was sort of stupid seeing as they had identified a creeper lurking there. Sam grabbed her hand and dragged her after him as he too jumped into the shadows of the night. They crept forward and into ear shot.

  “Who was that girl do you know?” They heard Giorgio ask. He must have meant her. Alex’s heart started to pound, did he suspect something. Almost consciously her hand went over her arm.

  “I’m not really sure; she must be some local girl although I’ve never seen her, sir” the officer replied, “Although she could be visiting from the Academy.”

  “Oh don’t kid yourself, no one with good taste will come and visit this dump unless they had family or was in the council,” Giorgio said in distaste.

  “Talk about obnoxious,” Max muttered.

  “Wow, you could be brothers,” Alex snorted. That proved to be a mistake. Giorgio instantly stopped talking and turned sharply to where they stood. Alex couldn’t help but step back away from his glare. She felt like he could see through the dark as he scanned the place, although that wouldn’t be that much of a surprise seeing as he was in the high council and for good reason too probably. In the end it wasn’t Giorgio they were to be scared of. They were so wrapped up in the attempt to conceal themselves, that they walked straight into it. Alex walked straight into it. She didn’t see it coming.

  Alex was grabbed from behind. The claws dug into her arms and she could feel something hot and sticky running down them. Blood; She grimaced in pain. She looked to her right and saw that no one had noticed yet, she was going to call out when she remembered Giorgio. If she called, he would recognize Max and try to exterminate her himself so it was a lose-lose situation.

  Alex struggled to free herself, occasionally kicking her leg backwards but it didn’t faze whoever her capturer was. He slowly retreated away from the group. She tried to run forward but the claws tightened and the pain increased as the claws entered deeper into her wounds. she let a whimper out as tears bubbled to the surface. That whimper was what alerted Max and Sam and unfortunately Giorgio and his guards too. Did Angels have amazing senses or something?

  Sam tried to pull her free. The claws tear through her skin forcing her to cry out in pain, it didn’t help that it seemed to be covered in Salt. What happened next she could not comprehend at the time, but would understand later. Weather it was luck or not, she did not know. All she knew was that the creature just suddenly dropped her and disappe
ared, by now the blood was flowing out of her wound since there was no longer anything to block it. She found it hard to stay on her feet but she did not think it was the right time to fall unconscious. Instead she bit into the inside of her cheek and held onto reality for as long as she could.

  Sam had managed to grab Alex and was checking her injuries when a shadow loomed over the pair. Giorgio was standing less than a few meters away from them his presence making Alex retreat slightly back into the shadows. His cold eyes stared at her. She did not know what he was doing but she didn’t like it. She shied away from his stare, his all-knowing stare; he seemed to be searching for something. She remembered doing the same thing, looking through the window to his soul, but she had seen nothing. Fear crept into her heart. She saw nothing. What if he sold his soul to the devil or something like in the cliché horror movies. Before she could scold herself for being so stupid, he turned and walked away. Alex stared at his retreating back and felt the sudden urge to throw something at him. She didn’t know why, but she got a bad feeling from him. He must have suspected something; why else would he be asking questions like that. He had only seen her for a few brief minutes and he had already singled her out.

  Alex knew that she had to try and avoid him at all costs or it could mean the end of her.

  She spotted Sam looking at Giorgio. For a second she saw hatred in his eyes. So much hate but as fast as it had come it disappeared and was replaced by his usual demeanor, the caring one. The one she was used to. She didn’t understand it, how gentle calm Sam, could suddenly change in a moment like that. It scared her. Although she herself had felt a strong dislike herself, it was nothing compared to Sam’s.

  He turned to her, worry flooding into his eyes as he wrapped a piece of cloth around her wounds trying to stop the bleeding. She had seen into the deepest darkest part of his soul. A part she didn’t know existed . A part she didn’t like.

  Chapter 8

  Sam did a pretty good job of bandaging Alex up. By the time he had finished she looked like a warrior princess with both her biceps bandaged.

  “Where’s Max?” she asked as she looked around and found him missing.

  “No, idea,” Sam muttered, “He must’ve hid when Giorgio was around, the coward.”

  “But we can’t leave without him,” she complained, “And we have to leave now incase anything else happens to us.”

  “You’re wrong, we can leave without him,” Sam grinned as he pointed towards his temple, “I memorized the map.”

  “Well, you may have done that, but you have no idea what Angel Code is do you?” Max asked as he emerged from a corner, “You don’t know how to live here so I fancy your chances of staying undetected to be zero to none.”

  “Where have you been?” She cried in anger as she jumped up to her feet.

  “Sorry, I decided that I shouldn’t be hiding anymore and doing something instead so I went shopping,” Max explained.

  “You went shopping?” Sam asked in disbelief, “Dude! what’s wrong with you?”

  “Nothing you idiot, “Max scowled, “I went looking for something that could disguise me so that I won’t get recognized by officials or stuff at first glance.”

  “Well, did you find anything?” Alex asked impatiently.

  “Not really, so I got the closest thing,” he said. At first she was confused about what he meant but when he stepped into the light fully she saw that his hair was ginger, not the rich Titan color, but the carrot red. She couldn’t help herself but laugh at his expense.

  “This is only temporary, “Max growled, “Tell anyone we know about this, and I will destroy you like the bug you are. Okay?”

  “Okay,” She chuckled, “It just looks strange in you,”

  “Let’s just get moving,” Sam interrupted as he walked, “Calsway is north west from here.”

  “We need to go to Hailsworth forest, which is at the west of Calsway,” Max said, “but the trip from here to Calsway is almost a day’s worth walking; we’ll have to walk through Paeledonia.”

  Alex groaned at the concept of more walking, she was normally a more fit person but she was still feeling weak after getting attacked twice in one day.

  “Let’s just move already,” she grumbled as she moved towards the gate. They walked in silence out of the gate; thankfully they didn’t stick out like a sore thumb since there were several other people not taking their chances staying overnight. They followed them out of the gate and into the wilderness. It was like a bare desert out there. All Alex could see was wasteland, for people who thought so high of themselves, that they would have a more advanced way of living.

  “What time is it?” She asked after several hours of walking. The sun was already coming up so she must’ve not eaten for god knows how long.

  “Just turning 6:30,” Sam answered which was almost drowned out by her belly complaining, “We can get something to eat when we reach the city, we’re only like 10 minutes away now.”

  “Well hurry up then!” She scowled as she grabbed Sam’s and Max’s hand and ran up to the gate.

  “You have a lot of energy for someone who’s been up for 28 hours,” Max complained as he yawned.

  “Well that’s the effect of the word ‘Food’’ on her,” Sam said as he too yawned. They came up to the gate and her mouth fell open. The city was like New York City. People were already moving around, opening up stalls and business. Her eyes popped at the amount of food stores open.

  “Where are we going to eat cause I’m starving and don’t you dare say something light cause I didn’t have dinner or lunch yesterday,” She warned as she eyed up a café to their right side. It showed a picture of sausage and mash. Without even noticing it her mouth started watering. She guided- no, she shoved Max and Sam through the crowd towards the Café.

  “Okay, okay, we get it, you’re hungry,” Max said in disgust as he saw the happiness on her face as they walked into the café. “But don’t order too much, we’ve only got a limited amount of money.”

  “Well then she shouldn’t order at all,” Sam said as the waiter walked over to them. He covered her mouth and ordered for her. Alex would’ve scolded him for ordering for her but she was too busy salivating at the thought of food.

  “Okay, we have to come up with a plan because I’m sorry but I’m not going to walk without sleep.” Sam declared.

  “Yes, I agree with you on that,” Max agreed, “We should go to a bed and Breakfast and sleep the night, Okay?”

  They all agreed on that before eating. Not another word was said.

  “What now?” Alex asked as they wandered through the square.

  “I don’t know to be honest, if we want to can go to Calsway right now, it’s only 2 hours walk from here,” Sam said.

  “No more walking,” She said shaking her head vigorously, “I want to just relax for a bit, we’ve been walking for 28 hours.”

  Just then a group of people barged through them. They were really excited about something. She had no idea what and after a silent debate. Her curiosity got the better of her.

  Although Alex hated to admit it, she understood what Giorgio meant by no one would want to visit the town they had last been in, if all the towns were like this or better which she suspect they were, she wouldn’t want to visit a rundown place like that.

  Alex followed the group .Situated right in the middle of the town square was a podium and on it stood a bearded fat man with the biggest grin on his face.

  She didn’t know what he was so chuffed about until she saw what he had in his hand. Actually what was tied to the rope in his hand. She almost disgraced herself.

  It was hideous. The way its teeth jerked off in random directions made out that its mouth was filled with a hundred too many teeth. The murky yellow eyes with the red slit through the middle of them gave them a demonic look. Its skin looked like tar and probably felt like it too guessing by the look of it. There were so much bumps but it still looked like it was liquid. It gave her the creeps, and i
t is terrifying burnt sand colored talons that seemed to dig into the ground endlessly. One wing looked bent from the position she was standing at. That however did not stop it from looking so majestic, Alex had never seen anything so layered. It was dangerous, like an Einstein experiment gone wrong.

  “How the hell did that bearded potato sack ever manages to capture a black midnight dragon?” Max asked in disbelief.

  “Excuse me, what?” She asked in confusion.

  “A Black Midnight Dragon is one of the deadliest demon out there,” Max explained, “Even some of the highest members of the council have never managed to capture one.”

  “But why would you want to capture one, for goodness sake,” Sam asked in disbelief at the crowds attitude.

  “Well; one, Other creatures use their oily skin for some of their concussions, and two that’s what is required to be allowed to enter the Elite Army of 7,” Max explained, “That’s why I’m asking how on earth that managed to capture it.”

  “He didn’t capture it, he brought it back so that we can train with it,” A boy of about 18 said, “He could never manage it on his own he’d get cut to pieces.”

  “And you are?” Max asked as he eyed the boy down.

  “Caleb,” He replied as he peered eagerly at the beast.

  “But why do you need to practice with it for?” Alex asked lost in the conversation.

  “Well you know how there’s going to be a war?” he asked, “Well, we got told that to be allowed to sign up you have to be able to withstand 5 hours in the rink with the beast.”

  Alex could see the joy in the kids face as he explained all this to them. If she got told to withstand 5 hours in the ring with that monster, she’d be crying her eyes out and trying to figure a way out if doing it, not be smiling like a fool.

  “I can’t wait! I’m definitely going to survive this then beat the hell out of the Dark Angels,” He exclaimed.