by Lady Lilium
There was a man, a mother, a daughter and an aberrant.
The hour was waning, and with every passing minute, the stars grew brighter, the evening star taking centre stage.
‘It’s here’ the aberrant rasped in his low harsh voice, he whipped his tail in agitation and flexed his mighty wings ‘It’s very close now.’
There was a sudden uproar of laugher from the swings as one of the boys attempted and failed to do a handstand on the swing itself. The aberrant jerked his head up, snarling at them and their disruption.
‘Do you think the others have found it yet?’ the mother asked.
The man twirled a strand of his fiery red hair between his fingers.
‘Not yet’ he replied, ‘we would know if it was found. They still don’t know yet where it is. But the problem is, neither do we.’
‘I wonder who will reach it first’ the daughter voiced, passing a hand over the orb she held before her. The sphere glowed; within it were many beautiful colours, though all of them were dark. ‘I fear things will not go well.’
The next day
‘Hey check out the new girl.’
Lauralie raised her head at the sound of whispering from her classmates, scanning the room briefly, the new girl didn’t take long to spot. Lauralie saw the girl sitting two rows behind from her. She was dressed all in black, with medium length black hair. Lauralie found herself thinking the girl to be very pretty, but immediately decided that she didn’t like her at all. The way she sat and postured gave Lauralie the feeling that she was very arrogant. The girl rested her chin on steepled fingers, almost sulkily. Her expression was vacant and her eyes were cold.
Lauralie turned back to her desk.
‘What's she like?’ the whispered conversation continued nearby.
‘I don’t know. I heard her name is Rhian. She’s not from around here, apparently she just moved in recently.’
Lauralie returned her attention back to her work. A picture she had been drawing in pastel of a woman, floating on a lake in a rowing boat with her child. It was shortly afterwards the bell rang, and people started filing out of class. Lauralie dusted her hands off on her jeans, gathering together her pencils and sketch books.
‘I’ll see you later Christina’ she told her friend.
Christina winked cheekily at her, waving as she danced away. Lauralie left the classroom alone once she had packed up her things, swinging her bag over her shoulder and strolling out into the corridor. It was seconds later another one of her friends caught up with her.
‘Hey Lauralie!’
She squeaked in shock as her friend pounced on her, jumping from behind and grabbing her shoulders.
‘Why does everyone have to frighten me like that all the time?’ Lauralie whined.
‘Well’ her friend Alice said slyly, clinging to her. ‘You're so easily startled, it’s hard not to make fun of it. You're like a little lamb.’ Alice gleamed, looking much like a cougar standing before its prey.
Lauralie hooked her arm though Alice’s as they walked together.
‘So where are you heading?’ Alice asked. ‘Do you have another lecture to go to?’
‘No I'm finished now.’
‘Great’ Alice beamed. ‘I'm finished too. Actually I was finished ages ago. I wanted to wait for you because me and the others are going over Kirsty’s now. Do you want to come?’
‘Sure’ Lauralie said perking up.
‘Great’ Alice said again. ‘The others are already there. I told them I would wait for you.’
‘I know where her house is’ Lauralie laughed.
‘Yeah but I wanted to walk with you.’
Lauralie squeezed her friends arm tightly. ‘You're so good to me Alice.’
‘I know right?’
They walked slowly together, heading out of the college grounds.
‘Did you hear the word on the street?’ Alice asked.
‘What word?’
‘The brothers are coming to town!’
‘Eh?’
‘They’re well known street dancers, entertainers’ Alice rambled on. ‘They’ve been travelling round together for the last year doing their thing and now they’re coming home again. They’re going to be putting on a show. I hear they’re pretty good at it, though I've never seen them myself.’ She cast a sideways glance at Lauralie, grinning happily. ‘I've heard they’re both pretty handsome.’
‘If you haven’t seen them before how do you know they’re any good?’ Lauralie asked.
‘My little sister is friends with their little sister. She’s told me about them. Anyway I was wondering if you wanted to come along to see them. Me and the others are going together, you can bring a friend or two of your own if you wanted. The more the merrier, that’s what they say.’
Street dancing? Lauralie thought. Oh please, what a ridiculous thing to do, go around prancing in different towns making a fool of yourself. Dancing is for girls and gays…
Lauralie smiled sweetly at her friend.
‘That sounds brilliant, I’d love to come.’
‘Great!’ Alice beamed squeezing her arm excitedly. ‘Who will you bring?’
‘I could ask Drake, he might be interested.’
‘Drake?’ Alice made a comical face. ‘Is he your…?’
‘Friend’ Lauralie finished. ‘Just a friend.’
Alice sniffed disdainfully. ‘You make me jealous to know that? You have so many boyfriends.’
‘They’re not my boyfriends’ Lauralie scowled.
‘Alright, boys that are friends’ Alice corrected.
‘That’s better.’
‘Anyway, Kirsty’s got a film to watch tonight if you’re not expected to be home.’
‘That sounds fun’ Lauralie replied. ‘I wasn’t going home tonight anyway.’
It was in the library that Jacob revised now, free from his lectures, he sat now with his friends Josh and Alex.
‘Macro. Computer science. A set of instructions that is represented in an abbreviated format. In short’ Jacob said.
‘Say whaaaa…?’ Josh raised an eyebrow.
‘It’s a pattern that specifies how a certain input sequence should be mapped to a replacement input sequence according to a defined procedure.’
‘In English?’
‘It carries out a sequence of operations intended by the user….you record a set of actions on the computer’ Jacob sighed patiently.
‘Oh I see.’
Jacob closed his book, frowning at his friend across the table.
‘I'm sure glad at least one of us understands this stuff’ Josh huffed. ‘I just can’t get my head around macros. They’re so confusing.’
‘Well you’d probably understand it better if you actually listened to the lecturer’ Jacob replied.
‘I can’t help it’ Josh argued. ‘I just switch off. As soon as anyone mentions the M word I zone out.’
Jacob shook his head.
And you know our lecturer has the most boring voice’ Josh went on. ‘It’s enough to put anyone to sleep.’
‘Well at least you're doing better than me’ Alex chipped in looking up from his books. It was the first time he had spoken in a while. ‘I'm doing ancient history. I can’t even remember what we’re supposed be doing. Something about the Catiline Conspiracy and a man called Superbus.’
‘The Catiline Conspiracy?’ Josh said. ‘Nothing actually happened. It was a supposed attempt’ Josh stressed these words as he spoke. ‘To overthrow the roman republic.’
‘Wait didn’t Superbus live in a different time to Catiline?’ Alex asked.
‘You should know dumbass’ Josh returned, ‘you're in my class.’
‘So who was this Catiline guy anyway?’ Jacob cut in before an argument began.
‘He was a roman politician.’
‘Wait, did you say Superbus…?’ Jacob asked, realising what a strange name it was. He hesitated then, noticing three figures standing just outside the doors of the library watching
him, he didn’t even hear his friend’s response. The three figures moved away.
‘Jacob? Are you alright?’ Alex glanced around to see what Jacob was looking at, but the three had already gone. ‘What are you looking at?’
‘What is it?’ Josh asked. ‘You look…nervous.’
‘I'm fine’ Jacob lied. He shifted, trying to get back to his work, but found that he could not. ‘I've got to go’ he said shortly after, rising to his feet.
‘Why? Hey wait a minute!’
But Jacob ignored the both of them, heading out of the library and into the beautiful sun. The car park was in view from outside the library, and Jacob could see the three figures waiting for him there.
Lucas, Reuben and Drake. They were all leaning against the wall at the back of the car park; in formation, they all eyed him like hawks.
Jacob felt a great weight descend upon him. The air suddenly felt heavy and his chest tightened. He took a deep breath, taking a step towards them, he began to walk.
Their eyes never left him as he approached them. Behind him standing just outside the library, Josh and Alex now watched. Jacob paused to glance back at them; then turned to face the three again. Lucas pushed himself off the wall and straightening up.
‘Welcome aboard’ Lucas said seriously.
‘Things are going to change for me from now on’ Jacob said. ‘Aren’t they?’
Lucas cocked his head in response, his eyes gleaming.
‘You’ve past the point of no return my friend’ Lucas told him.
‘I still haven’t been able to use magic…but…I feel different since that day.’
‘The day you met Venom?’ Reuben asked.
Jacob thought of Alex and Josh, wondering how he was going to explain to them what was happening. But he decided then that it didn’t matter. He didn’t need to explain anything; he couldn’t, even if he wanted.
‘Your magic will come to you’ Lucas assured him. ‘When you are ready.’
‘How long will it take?’
Lucas shrugged. ‘Everyone is different.’
He extended a hand towards Jacob.
Magic Jacob thought. Will this be a gift, or a curse?
Jacob looked down at Lucas’ hand, and extended his own. Lucas grasped his forearm tightly, either side of him, Reuben and Drake smiled.
Jacob was led away by the three, as his friends no more, watched.
They headed out of the town, and towards the abandoned hotel where the brothers and Drake so often practiced their magic. But on this day they saw something strange. Something not even the brothers had seen before. All four of them slowed to a stop, staring in disbelief.
It was a black creature, large in size with an entire head that welded into one colossal horn. Its mouth held a neat row of splintered teeth, and it walked on all fours.
They all watched as it walked casually past; its only acknowledgment of them was a brief glance as it continued on its way.
Lucas gasped as he recognised it, suddenly realising what it was. He uttered one word.
‘Aberrant.’
‘Where are they?’ the woman hissed, glancing all around her as if what she feared might appear at any moment.
The man beside turned to her, brushing her cheek with the back of his hand.
‘Be calm Li my sweet, they pose no real harm to us.’
‘But there are more of them than us’ she argued.
‘So?’ Kreas replied. ‘If they appear, we’ll kill them.’
‘Easier said than done.’
‘We can defend our own in a fight’ Kreas said stretching. ‘As well as they can at least.’
‘But what if they find it before us? You know they’ll flee as fast as they can back to the king, how do we get it back once the king has it? We would be no match against his men.’
‘Well’ Kreas drawled, ‘we had better make sure we get it before they do.’
He raised his hood, glaring at a passerby.
‘I can’t wait to get away from here. I don’t like this place.’
‘Me neither’ Li replied. ‘The air here is so….polluted.’
‘A silly thing to complain about. We’re in a busy town’ Kreas teased. ‘You're just a soft country girl.’
‘You be quiet’ Li snapped. ‘You hate it here too.’
Kreas purred dangerously, his eyes glinting.
‘It won’t be long now’ he told Li. ‘It’s still in this town; our chase is coming to an end.’
‘Then perhaps at last we can rest.’
‘Rest?’ came a third voice.
The pair glanced towards the man that had spoken. He turned and strode away, the hem of his ankle length white coat lifted on his heels as he marched.
‘Kreas, Li, come.’
Kreas obeyed, snarling at a passerby who moved too close. Li fell into the footsteps of the man who commanded her, and together they followed their master, through the streets.
Kreas shoved aside a man who moved too close. The man stumbled, glancing around to see what had pushed him, but finding nothing.
‘Control yourself Kreas’ the master spoke calmly to him. ‘You let your anger get the better of you.’
‘Sorry master’ Kreas replied. ‘I've become short of temper since we came to this town. We’ve been here for far too long as it is.’
‘We’ve not been here that long’ Li argued.
‘One minute is by far too long’ Kreas snapped. ‘I hate this place...as much as you do Li.’
‘So you keep saying’ the master replied. ‘If I hear you say it again, I’ll make you wish you hadn’t.’
Kreas quickly fell silent.
‘Where are you taking us master?’ Li asked.
‘You will see.’
A short time later and the master had brought them to the edge of the town. He turned to them and spoke.
‘I want you to circle the entire town, make sure she is still here as you think. There is something that’s keeping it here, and I want to know what.’
‘Maybe the others have found it’ Li replied.
‘If that’s the case it would have vanished by now’ Kreas argued.
‘The others have not found it’ the master spoke over them. ‘I still sense her magic near, and it is strong. You will circle the entire town to make sure she is still here as I suspect, then you will create a net of magic to trap her, before she has a chance to escape.’
‘Sounds like fun’ Kreas sneered.
‘Just go’ the master sighed, waving them away. ‘And be quick about it.’
The two bowed their heads obediently, transforming into their beastly selves. They were gone in an instant, running on all fours in opposite directions around the edge of the town.
That night
Rhian heard a disturbance in the darkness outside. It was either very late or very early, she didn’t know which, but it was a strange and frightening sound that had brought her so abruptly out of a deep sleep. Rhian tensed with eyes wide open. Frozen for a moment she listened hard. The town so late at night was usually quiet now, even the clubs were closed this early in the week, but there was a noise, something out of place that disrupted the usual silence of the night. She sat up and threw back the duvet, grabbing the metal bar which leant against her bedside table. Stepping lightly she crossed the room, bare feet slapping on the smooth wooden floor. Rhian threw the double doors to the balcony open and let the wind catch her hair. The chill of the night breeze was refreshing, waking her tired mind further. Besides from the chirping of the strange insects of the night; and the shrill noise of the bats as they chased the moths that danced in the streetlights, there was another sound.
Rhian tiled her head, listening hard, the metal bar raised in both her hands.
There!
A screeching howl that echoed through the town, then another one shortly after coming from another direction nearby. There was more than one, likely there were several. Rhian glanced back into her room, realising her parents would not be able
to hear the sound. Nor would anyone else who was not a guardian. She turned back towards the night, leaping atop the railings of the balcony with the balance of a gymnast. Jumping to the house immediately next door and running over the tiles, they clattered together as they took her weight. She covered several houses in a matter of minutes, and woke no one. She kept running until she eventually found the source of the disturbance.
They were gathered together in a small group by the side of one of the houses several streets away. Tearing into the rubbish bins and the dumpster and fighting amongst each other like typical scavengers. Several of the bins were tipped over, with the heads of the creatures buried within as they rooted around for anything they could find. Occasionally one more dominant than the others would snap at an omega and push him back with teeth bared.
Rhian sneered at their savagery as she looked down on them from the rooftop; disgusted by the way they fought over meagre scraps thrown away.
What worthless creatures she thought. These the world would be better off without.
‘Demon scum’ she spoke aloud.
Several of them looked up suddenly at the sound of her voice, growls rising from deep within their throats as they searched for the source. Rhian spun the metal pole in a hand and leapt down from the building. She fell right in the middle of the circle of the creatures, rubbish crunching under her feet as she landed. They scattered, not out of fear but out of surprise, many had bolted but no more than a few feet away. When they realised what they saw was not bigger than themselves, they slunk forwards to challenge the intruder. The only thing these beasts truly feared was another aberrant bigger than themselves.
These were scrawny and deformed looking beasts, with feet resembling that of a chicken’s that were malformed and twisted. Some bore exaggerated spikes of bone that protruded sharply through the skin from the shoulders and spine. Others had upwards pointing horns, long thin tails and skeletal wings. And some had two narrow heads on the end of two long necks, each acting independent of the other. In this one small area were several different species.
