He pointed over at the silver haired boy from earlier, and introduced him to me. "This is Ryu, he's from the Fire Region, and he's a Dragon shifter. He was raised to protect his friends and family, and it's what he does and does well."
"Kerli is Trent's younger sister she is an Angel as well, just a different type - wingless. She has magic and fighting skills instead. Hayley is a Human, of the Light Region, she is one of the strongest there and willing to do her part in all this to protect anyone she deems worthy."
"Keifer is a Shifter, he is from the Earth Region but more or less spent his time in the Ice Region, he is a Panther shifter by the way. Nel is a Witch from the Light Region, one of their strongest witches at that, she's evil and sinister in more ways than one and doesn't really give a fuck what someone says." Dolphus took in several more deep breaths and shook his head slowly. "Last but not least, is Skye. She's a Fey of the Ice region, though she grew up in the Air Region, she's strong, quick and lethal... and all around nice if you're nice to her."
I stared around at the group of twelve people who stood near me. Taking in each one and trying to match faces with names, though it was already hard enough to keep the faces straight, let alone set names with each of them. That was nearly impossible to do, so far anyway. But I'd learn, I always did, and this was no different it'd just take me a little longer than usual.
"Hey..." I had managed to get out, and then realized how stupid it sounded. Especially coming from someone they were going to have to trust to try and save humanity? Smart move Raine. "Glad to have all of you aboard." I smiled at each of them.
"We're glad to be aboard, though when this all goes down you probably won't see most of us for a long time." Nel said to me, smiling sadly. Her red hair flowed down her back; some of it was hanging over her face covering her emerald green eyes somewhat. She was so pretty she almost didn't fit here at all. "We'll get separated once we hit your world, you'll be lucky to find two of us at first really..."
"So you mean this right now." I moved my hands around as if to motion to everyone who stood around me. "Is just get me to know your faces ahead of time?"
"Pretty much." Kerli said to me calmly. She had a smile on her face as she stepped forward into my view better. She had long blonde hair that wisped around her face, and a lithe frame when she moved. Her long leg's stretched out from under her dress when she moved, and made her look even taller than she was. "You'll remember, even if you don't try, it'll be alright dear Raine."
"Right... That's easier said." I mumbled, looking down after she said it to me.
"She's probably tired; Dolphus and I will take her to her chambers." Kailen spoke, staring from me to Dolphus then lightly grasped my arm steering me out of the room with him, I heard an extra set of feet behind me and knew it was Dolphus.
I followed him in utter silence, my body almost drifting along with his graceful footsteps. I watched as the hall changed from open windows into a more solid area that soon turned darker and darker as we went, until I finally became confused. Dolphus was on my other side, walking along with us as Kailen kept moving. I didn't think chambers were this far down, but then again what did I know. Kailen stopped at a door after a few moments and opened it for me.
"Fey area, I figured you might need some time from them, you looked sickly..." Kailen muttered to me before he started to usher me inside.
I didn't argue with him, instead I walked inside and kept silent. Moving over towards a couch and within a second I curled up on it. My legs were pulled to my chest and I shuddered a few times, watching Dolphus walk in followed by Kailen who turned around to do something.
I watched him wave his hand after he muttered a few words and to my surprised watched as the door literally disappeared. It was like it was never there to begin with. It really was a Fey area, and not just somewhere to sleep. I wasn't going to complain, I was grateful for this kind of isolation even for a few moments at this point.
"You alright?" Dolphus asked me, he was frowning deeply as he reached a hand out to move some of my hair away from my face.
"Me? Yeah... I'm fine." I told him, forcing a smile onto my face. “Promise."
"She's not fine, obviously." Kailen spoke to Dolphus as he moved in closer to the two of us. His eyes met mine and he only shook his head at me. "She's worried about people dying, the pressure she's under, the lives at stake, the world itself. The fact that even if she does not want to, she has to fight, that she has to learn, to give her life up. Am I right?"
I could only nod my head as I listened to him, and then stared at the ground below my feet. He was right; I was worried sick about people dying. I didn't want lives to be lost, or this world to be destroyed. I didn't want Nixon to lose his family, or any of the others for that matter.
"How can you expect her to be alright after all that?"
Dolphus looked at me sadly, placing his hand on my knee and giving it a light squeeze. "Oh sweetie, I'm sorry." He started to tell me then let out a sigh, his own eyes dropped and he was staring at the ground now as well. "If there was a way to stop all this without the bloodshed, I think we'd all take it. You've got to cherish what you have now; don't worry about what's to come."
"Believe me; I do cherish what I have now, more than anything. But, I still feel a little worried at times, because I know even if I try to ignore it, that people will die." I said to the both of them. Frowning as the words left my mouth, my eyes slowly shifted and I stared at them both for a long time.
"Then, you can train and make yourself stronger so you can protect more people." Kai said to me, smiling. Even though the smile really looked more like a grimace to me. "You want to have more living? Then you make it a possibility, not a wish."
I stared at him, listening intently to every word as he took in a breath and shook his head slowly getting ready to speak once more. "You have some experience correct?" I nodded a yes to his answer, just waiting to hear what he'd say to me next. "Can you use a sword?"
I nodded once more to him, biting down on my lip for a small moment as I watched him. "Then we'll get everyone together and work on it, train you physically till you can no longer walk, and when you can't walk we'll train your mind. Give you everything we know about each god, give you weaknesses and strengths. Teach you how to make plan's to attack at a split moment's time."
Slowly I let my eyes divert from his, and move towards Dolphus, then I nodded my head. My fists were balled up at my sides, and I let my eyes move back to Kai. Staring him straight on, even smiling as I did. "Let's do it. I don't want to say I couldn't do it because I was too weak, get everyone together and we'll start now."
With that, Kai smiled. Really smiled, it was bright, and just like everything else when it came to him, it was beautiful. Then he bowed and started to speak once more to me. "Very well, I'll gather them. Dolphus can lead you down to the arena, trust me you won’t be able to miss it." He told Dolphus then made the door re-appear with the motion of his hand. Slipping out it and leaving me and a shocked Dolphus behind in the room, I was eager to get going and couldn't help but smile a little to myself.
"Sure about this Raine?" Dolphus asked, looking over at me with wide eyes.
"More sure about this, than I am anything here." I looked up at him, offering him a big smile before I countered with my own question. "Are you sure you can handle me?"
That brought a chuckle from him, and he started to shake his head slowly as he looked down at me. "Not sure, you were getting tougher there." He motioned me ahead of him as he kept speaking, I curtsied at him jokingly. "Shall we Miss. Chosen."
"Why, I think we shall, Mr. Guardian."
He huffed at me, rolling his eyes before he started to walk out of the room like a total drama-queen, or is that King?
I gave him a completely confused look, rolled my own eyes and started out after him. We made our way down the winding halls as fast as we could, joking the whole time we walked about anything that came to mind.
*****
We di
dn't take too long to find the Arena. Just like Kai had said to us, it was huge and hard to miss. It was maybe twice the size of the rooms in the vampire regions, and much emptier. It was so wide I could hear echo's when we walked in.
Dolphus let out a breath that soon turned into a slight whistle. He then tilted his head and looked at me sideways, grinning deviously. “There’s a whole wall of weapon's Rainey, I think this might be fun." He spoke to me, wagging one of his fingers back and forth.
"I think so." I said, walking further into the room. I didn't get too far before I heard the ruckus of people coming in behind us. I spun on my heels as fast as I could and turned to look at everyone. There really were more people than I remembered there; maybe I just never took into account Tom's side of the group.
"So, what is the reason for this?" Talon asked me almost instantly, venom practically seeped from his tone, and his eyes were the brightest shade of red I'd seen. I was a little intimidated, but I knew he wouldn't hurt me, he couldn't or he'd get his ass kicked for it by everyone in the room.
"To practice, train, and strengthen ourselves." I told him directly, arching one of my eyebrows as I put my hands on my hips. "Problem?"
His red eyes met my own, and he smiled a slow smile at me. I saw his fangs peeking out from his bottom lip, before he walked off to the side of the room away from everyone there. I knew that tone, and that smile… The whole attitude by now actually. He wasn't really mad or angry, he just wanted to sound as authoritative as possible, and mean, so that no one wanted to mess with him.
Tom slowly strode in, hands in his pockets as he made his way toward me. He had his left eyebrow arched in question as he glanced over at me for a moment, then he pursed his lips. "Explain."
"Remember the fight... The people who nearly died, you and me, how bad everything was?" I looked him dead in the eyes, trying to plead with my own. "Tom, I don't want to be that useless..."
He just nodded his head at me. Tom was my twin, not just my brother but my twin, he understood me better than anyone ever could and ever would. "I understand, Ray." Smiling weakly at me for a moment, he moved over to me and tousled my hair up before chuckling. "We'll learn whatever we can, before it's too late."
Smiling happily at the fact that he was agreeing with me, I peeked behind him at the group of people by the door. Kai arched his own eyebrow, gazing at me, then the group as if he was asking me 'when do we start?’ I bit my lip, pushed Tom to the side and took in a deep breath.
"OK, so I'm going to leave all of this up to the guys who know the most, or at least," I nodded quickly to Talon, Eyloff, and then to Kailen. "I know you three do..."
Talon gave me a look of annoyance, and then let out a very loud sigh making sure that everyone could hear it. He was being overly dramatic today that was for sure. Moving forward he nodded his head once and spoke. "I'll help; I know what I'm doing." He said out loud, and then his eyes veered over to Eyloff and Kailen with more suspicion than anything. "I don't know about wolf boy, or pretty boy there."
Kailen just laughed at him, tilting his own head to the side slowly. "Of course I'll help. I did after all inspire this idea." His smile turned deadly for a moment, and then he looked over at Eyloff and everyone else in the room. He shifted uncomfortably from all the stares, and looked around quickly.
"Does this mean I have to work with that bastard?" Eyloff let out a growl, staring straight at Talon.
"Not really." I said to him, smiling weakly. "There are enough of us here."
"Then, I'll gladly help." He told me, crossing his arms across his chest. He was being defiant as hell, and it was more cute than anything.
Smiling brightly, I could have hugged them all right about now, but I would've died a horrible death if I did so probably. Kai moved forward in slow lethal movements, letting out a sigh and raised his arms above his head to get everyone in the room’s attention, I wondered what he was up to.
"There are around twenty of us here, we're going to break off into three groups." He started to call out, then looked from himself, to Eyloff and then over to Talon. Moving his hands to point around as he spoke. "Mine, Talon's and Eyloff's, clear?" He asked aloud as if wanting an actual opinion on his idea. I heard a few mumbled yes's in return. It was like being in middle school PE all over again.
Kailen looked over at me, then to Tom. His gaze was piercing and frightening all at once, I wanted to wince but I held it. "You worked with Talon and Eyloff both; you can work with me now. Tom can work with whomever he wants, once we're grouped we'll go straight into fighting."
I nodded my head, and then walked over to Kai. He was so much taller than I was that it added to his intimidation factor even more. I was short enough as it was, and he was a good foot and a half taller than me, stick thin and probably stronger than he looked. How strong that was though, I wasn't sure, but I knew I'd probably find out soon enough.
*****
It was a while later when we finally grouped off. The only people I knew in my group was Kailen and Dolphus, otherwise I was completely lost. I really needed to learn names, and put them to faces so I could remember these things and not feel like a total reject about it.
Kailen charged into the middle of the free for all that we were having. Whoever was knocked down had stepped out, and whoever was left standing was going to be the winner. It sounded easy enough to me, and no one else complained about it so far.
Taking in a deep breath I then charged into the fight, slamming into Nixon almost instantly. He tried to grab hold of me and missed miserably when I turned to the side away from him. Kai had told me earlier to go off of my instincts when doing this, if I felt I should kick, then I needed to kick it was as simple as that. If I needed to dodge and roll then do it, but I needed to learn hand to hand combat and this was going to be the easiest way to teach it to me.
Nixon came back at me, and I twisted while ducking so that his fist missed me. Lifting up my right foot I swung it out at him so that it reached and connected with his left knee. I my aim was perfect too, and I got to watch as he fell and hit the ground almost instantly. I smiled down at him for a moment, and then let my attention snap up to the rest of the people in the room once more.
That was one person down, and several more to go. I scanned the area and saw that a few were still on the sides. This was going to be a tough fight regardless, but it didn't stop me, it just made me that much more eager. I dove back into the group kicking and punching at anyone that got in my way. I felt the rattling of my bones each time I actually connected with someone.
Eyloff was the one that hurt the most to actually hit. He was like beating your fist against steel, and it only angered him if you touched him. I didn't care though, his bad attitude wasn't going to stop me, and the rattling of my bones right now was going to have to wait, because I needed to focus on staying in this fight.
Talon caught sight of me and began to smile darkly towards me. That was enough to set all my nerves on end, and make me want to run for my life. I watched as he closed in, and felt my heartbeat speed up. Having someone like him come for you really was like a bad nightmare come to life, his entire aura was scary.
Right as he went to strike, I moved to the side and my own fist went flying out, only to be caught but his hand. I let my other hand fly out and chopping into his neck, making him loose his grip on my fist. I moved away and watched him as he moved. I wanted to make sure he'd be preoccupied for a moment or two, and thankfully for me he was.
I lifted my leg looking as if I were going to kick him, and once he was ready to defend that I punched him instead. I heard him growl deep in his throat as I kept at him, kicking as hard as I could at his body, but he just kept blocking me over and over again. I wasn't going to give up any time soon though, that was for sure.
Smiling to myself, I then made it look like I was going to kick again with my left leg. At the last moment I switched it up, and swung out with my right leg kicking him in the side, and taking the opportunity to lung forward and s
lam my fist into his upper jaw. I heard something crack and I wasn't sure if it was my fist or his jaw but it was loud enough to make my insides twist.
He lost his balance, fell backwards onto his ass and looked up at me glaring. His eyes were bright red again and his fangs were causing small dimples in his lower lip. For once he actually looked pissed off. I didn't think he'd ever actually get mad at me like that, but then again I never thought I'd kick his ass at something like this, again.
"Looks like she's better than I thought." Kai said from beside me, chuckling.
Turning on my heel I looked over at him. He was smiling at me brightly, and then almost in a cat like motion he tilted his head to the side. "What do you say Magick and the Vampire at once?"
"I-I... Both of you?" I asked him, my eyes were bugging from my sockets, and I swallowed dryly.
Book of Curses (The Renning Chronicles) Page 19
