Arriving back at Sam’s home, I wandered around the rooms., feeling the mixed emotions as I went, there was so much to learn and not enough time to do it in, I sneaked a peek at the gym that I’d glimpsed yesterday when Sam had been taking me around the house, it had everything in there that I would need to learn how to fight and build on my bodies strength, the battle I planned would be major but I was sure that we would win, by any means necessary.
“We have to go out for a while to patrol,” Sam came up behind me, “Help yourself to anything, I’ll be back later and we’ll have our meal together like we planned,”
“Ok,” I said. “Any idea what time you’ll be back?”
“Before six.”
He spun and walked away, I watched them all thoughtfully, as they spread their wings, their sharp claws becoming stretched out from under their human form, none of them seemed to mind and it didn’t look painful, I would soon find out.
Heading back to the library I checked for the volume of the books that I needed, I’d remembered seeing them yesterday, they held the vital information for me to be able to morph and gain my wings, the sleeve jackets of the books were dusty and I coughed a little, sneezing while I brushed them free and I soon settled down.
Eventually I picked up the information that would aid me to release my wings, and I felt the uncertainty and a mixture of apprehension at thought of trying to find out what would happen, would I even be able to release them? Or would I fail and have to sit back and watch the others fight on my behalf.
Stepping outside into the bright sunshine, I heaved and stepped over the flag stone walk up to the concreted area that Sam used for barbeques, spying the spot where nothing was around me to act as an obstruction, I stood and concentrated, my face screwed up and I closed my eyes, hoping it would work and I wouldn’t fail in my small adventure.
I felt the sharp pain running down my spine, itching to be released the pressure pushing outwards hurt like hell, along with the pain in my toes which must be where my claws were trying to push their way through my skin, never had I felt pain like this before and I wished I hadn’t have bothered trying to morph into my Volcan form.
Apprehensive, frightened and in agony I refused to give up, relentlessly I pushed myself further, moving my mind away from the present and imagining the shadow from earlier, placing my mind backwards to where I’d been in grave danger, it seemed to be working. I felt my skin shifting, painfully and I howled with agony my skin was slowly giving way to allow myself to morph, shaking and sweating profusely I concentrated even more, uncontrollable sweat poured down my back and I could feel it pooling around my feet in tiny drips, I felt disgustingly dirty but immensely pleased with my progression.
At first I couldn’t get my mind away from the excruciating pain down my spine, nothing compared to this, and then the feeling as if I was being torn across my toes bent me double on the floor, on my hands and knees, I shook, howling which turned to screeching the same as Sam had done earlier, and my knees soaked with sweat the same as my back, my bottom high in the air, and I felt the first full rip of skin down my back. Amazingly there wasn’t any blood, according the books it’s a rare occurrence for blood to pour when someone is morphing purely based upon the factors of the paranormal descent from the ones announced as higher than ourselves, like gods of the Volcans.
“Zera,” I hadn’t heard Sam appearing, and neither did I pay any attention to the other Volcans as they began to surround me.
I was caught up with my concentration and my weakened state, I hadn’t realised how weak I’d become and I felt I wasn’t even half way there, my mind was whirling out of control, all my emotions were being rapidly eaten up with the morphing, and being replaced by the sense of power and hunger to kill the shadows, The Devourers that had placed their threat on everyone, especially me.
“Zera,” Sam said quietly. “Steady,”
A strange emotion overtook me, swamping me under its spell, the feeling of being torn apart was nothing compared to the special emotion that had just enveloped me, it poured its magic over the ugly feelings to kill, making me realise my true being, I was here to protect and form harmonious magic across anyone that I chose too.
“Ethan, take hold of her arms,” I heard him order, my state hadn’t quite completed, I screeched my displeasure, sensing that should they touch me my morphing would cease and I would never gain this much of a transformation again.
“Err...Sam are you sure that’s such a good idea, she seems to be controlling herself,”
“Zera can you still hear me?”
I thought rapidly, and he seemed to understand that I wanted to do this, and stepped backwards to give me room to spread.
Moaning, sweating and shaking I finally felt the final tear in my skin, my wings sprang free and began to flap uncontrollably, my feet rapidly transformed to reveal my claws, my strength that flowed through me was undeniable, I felt like I could take on anything and anyone and win.
Standing up, righting my hair and feeling weak, I clasped hold of the back of the chair for support, Sam came racing towards me followed quickly by Ethan, I looked at them, a strange new look crossed their faces and they exchanged looks.
“Are you alright?” he asked, he was trying to get inside my head, but I refused him entry, I hadn’t known that I could do that, he was the leader and according to the books had been granted the entry into any of the Volcans minds.
I nodded, rocking back on my heels, the world was spinning crazily and I felt my wings weighing me down, and the pressure to fall backwards because of their weight.
“Can you stand properly?” the urgent tone that he used brought my head around swiftly to focus on him, “Try to walk to me,”
“I-I don’t think I can let go of the chair without falling over,” I gasped.
“Can you try?” he asked, “I’ll catch you if you fall don’t worry.”
Slowly I released the chair, feeling like I was walking for the first time, it was a strange kind of feeling, and with incredible courage I tried to make the distance, wobbling at first and then gradually closing the gap that stood between us.
I reached his arms and made the distance, it was magical he clasped me tighter to his chest, I drew strength from him and it made walking seem like a long ago distant dream.
“Well done,” he smiled. “What made you try? How did you know how to do it?”
“I read the books, there’s one anthology down there,” I pointed to the discarded book. “It says how to do it so I tried, god you didn’t tell me it was that painful,”
He laughed.
“I didn’t think I would have too,” he said. “Anyway, you did really well not many people can do it with one take, and you managed to accomplish that,”
“I’m not doing it again,” I moaned.
In my head I heard him speaking to me, the others looked away embarrassed and offering privacy.
“You didn’t have to try it Zera, nothing can change the fact that your one of us whether you morph or not,” he said in my head. “I felt every second of your pain,”
“I bet you did,” I spoke inside my head, allowing him entry, the others didn’t listen they had already closed of their trail of thoughts, blocking the telepathic path.
“I don’t want you to do it again though,” he shuddered. “You looked like you were in agony,”
“Is there a reason why I never morphed that day with Ellie?”
I needed to know the answer to the question, even if it hurt me to find out.
“You couldn’t bear the pain, but you did try it was unsuccessful, sometimes when we’re trying to morph and there’s been an incredible gap between the last time,” he coughed out loud. “It's not always successful and places us in danger, which is why I’m so surprised that you’ve succeeded today,”
“I wanted to find out what it was like,” I said out loud. “I didn’t like the pain, much,” I grinned. “But it was good to know that I can still do it,”
“You always were a strong woman,” he agreed, both of us were speaking out loud, and neither minded the fact that the others were around listening although their backs were turned, I could see that Regan was laughing about me moaning in regards to the pain, his back had begun shaking, his head was down looking at the ground.
“Ethan,” I said. “Why don’t you show us how to morph faster that I just did?”
A challenge, he turned to me in shocked, but instantly seeing the set of the challenge in my eyes, his eyes widened and he looked towards Sam for clarification, and he only shrugged in response knowing my stubborn mind.
“Go on, dare you too,” I spoke soundlessly, allowing myself to connect with him.
“Do you now?” he smiled, and took his stance in front of me. “I bet you I can beat your timing,”
“Oh believe me I have no doubts that you will,” I answered. “I just want to see whether you’re going to do it without as much pain and if you’re faster than the rest,”
With my last words spoken, all telepathic routes opened, each Volcan turned to me their eyes accepting the challenge I’d just set, no words were spoken for a long time, we didn’t need too, with our minds we could communicate just as well.
They changed their postures, morphing back to human form and then quickly the shaking of each one began, Sam had chosen not to participate but stood beside me his arm loosely around my shoulders, each one began to change at different paces, Ethan had morphed considerably fast and stood proudly watching the others, each one struggling with the pain in different ways, and sweating from the anxiety and concentration.
Locked inside our own world, the challenge was soon won by Ethan who whooped and punched the air with glee, his eyes challenging me again.
“Do you think you can fly?” he asked.
Sam stepped forwards, his face furious with the temptation being thrown my way, I placed my hand on his chest to hold him back, and nodded hoping I wouldn’t fail and make myself look like a fool.
“Ok,” he smiled. “Are you sure you want to try?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’ll be fine; can one of you show me how?”
Sam nodded, and held my hands, he stepped forwards, and beckoned me when my feet faltered, I was frightened and yet tempted to try, the new world that had been sprung upon me was crazy but yet fulfilling, and I was petrified it would soon vanish and leave me cold and alone.
“Don’t be afraid.” Sam whispered in my head, he turned to me smiling giving me confidence.
I stepped towards him and allowed him to hold me while he entered the skies, his wings flapping and my hair flying behind me, it was a certain kind of warmth that spread across me; this is my family. All of the Volcan’s belonged in my family.
Slowly I felt Sam’s arms slipping away, leaving me extended outwards but below him, I wasn’t sure what to do, my wings didn’t flap they just lay gently down my back, I closed my eyes and concentrated again feeling the powerful motions of being Volcan, something that couldn’t be extinguished with hate or malice.
Slowly my wings lifted, until they sat high on my back and a couple of minutes later they began to flap, uncertainly at first, testing the atmosphere like they had a world of their own and I wasn’t privy to it, then they flapped frantically feeding the air with their own kind of magic, I felt elated and above happy, high into the sky I flew, between the clouds. Faintly I heard Sam laughing which was quickly followed by the laughter of the others, my somersaults in the air were perfect, once or twice I lost my balance but I found myself grabbed quickly by one of the others, whoever was nearest set me right.
Winking at me Sam flew on ahead, his wings magnificent with the slow glow of the sun as it began to rest for the evening, gleaming lights spun of my own wings, and I turned around so I was laying on my back, feeling the restful sky around me, such a peaceful atmosphere.
“Hey,” Ethan shouted. “I challenged you, now that you can fly lets race,”
“Do you think you stand a chance of winning then?” I teased. “Oh! So I’ve beat you in the past,”
Reading his mind, and hearing his groans of protest when I figured out what he was really thinking, Sam looked on watching happily, he no longer had any objection to me being like him and no reservations with me accepting a challenge.
“That’s not fair,” he moaned. “I think I liked you more when you couldn’t hear my thoughts,”
I laughed, happily spinning in the air, I felt free, I felt elated and I felt so much love surrounding me.
“Ok,” I said. “How about I race you to the edge of the city and back?”
“What’s the prize for the winner?”
I cocked my head to the side, making a big thing about pretending to think.
“How about the winner gets to reveal his or her darkest secret?”
“You're on!”
I personally didn’t have a deepest darkest secret, not that I could remember anyway, but Ethan hadn’t picked up on that part of the bet yet, it was an unfair bet but he seemed more interested in testing his speed.
Together we raced, followed closely behind by Sam, I could hear his anxiety, for some reason during my excitement I couldn’t block him because it took to much of my concentration and I wanted to win the race, over the trees and the roofs of buildings we flew, I saw the cars that had started to put on their headlights, following Ethan and waiting to give myself a spurt of speed towards the end, pacing myself and not allowing him to take over the race, occasionally he looked at me, grinning widely when he realised I was slightly behind him.
I saw his wings become to get exhausted, the crazy flapping dwindled and I saw my chance to beat him, picking up speed gradually I started to become head to head with him, seeing his exhaustion etched on his face, I then began to over take him, Sam didn’t leave my side, and neither did he intervene in any way in the bet.
Reaching the edge of the city, I sat on top of the tallest tree and waited for Ethan, I heard his wings flapping and the gust of wind blew that signalled his arrival, flopping down exhausted and spent.
“Ok,” he laughed. “You haven’t lost your touch,”
“And your deepest darkest secret?”
“I’ll tell you later, when we’re alone,” he whispered co spiritually.
Grinning like school children, Sam reminded us the seriousness of abusing our power and skills, but not before embracing me and showing his happiness that I’d won, much to Ethan’s disgust.
Chapter Seven
Sitting on top of the tallest tree and watching the cars speed down the roads, the hustle and bustle of everyday life happening around us, one section I felt I’d been pulled away from and that I had now entered another world completely devoid of anything remotely human or that might seem to be a humanised life.
“Do you think you’ll stay with us now?” Ethan asked as he gently put his arm around my shoulders in a brotherly way, “I mean, now that you know what and who you are, will you stay with us instead of leaving?”
“I never said I’d leave,” I protested. “What made you ask that?”
“It was something you said before,” he said. “You screamed at Sam once and told him you wanted out of this life, you didn’t want to be one of us and you were pretty upset to find out that you’d been changed,”
“I don’t remember being like that,” I said. “But I don’t want to leave. I feel like I’ve joined a family, with people who care about me, before I felt dejected and lost and alone,” I shuddered, “I never want to feel like that again,”
“I know,” he said. “I watched you so many times, so many times I wanted to reach out and tell you everything was going to be alright but I stopped myself and Sam forbid us to allow you to enter our world again,”
“It's my choice though,” I insisted. “He shouldn’t have done that,”
“Do you know how hard it was on him to turn you?”
“No,” I shook my head, there wasn’t any doubt in my mind at the many conquests he’d had to
go through to be able to make me whole and one with him. “What happened?”
“Well,” he began shifting slightly and looking around to make sure we couldn’t be overheard by anyone. “He knew there was every chance that you would get hurt or even die once he changed you to be with you,” he began. “I warned him not to do it, but he wouldn’t listen. You see once the idea enters into our heads it’s pretty hard to get rid of it, I know,” he said, “I had the same problem shortly after you were made,”
“What happened?” I wanted to ask him but on the same level I wasn’t convinced that I needed to know the answer, I think I already knew what he was going to say, considering his mate wasn’t here with us it was pretty much self explanatory.
“She died,” he said. “Her body didn’t adapt so well to the transformation, it was horrible to see but Sam was there with me every step of the way, he didn’t leave me or her not until she breathed her last breath. You see that’s why you’re so important to us and to the Devourers,”
“I know,” I sighed. “I just want the war between us two to be over, and then I can get on with my life and live properly, I don’t know if Sam would agree though,”
“Wouldn’t you consider living with him? You were always so happy and I was very envious of him for a long time, to the point where I couldn’t even be around any of you and I ventured off on my own for a little while to have some time to reflect and think about things,”
“You came back though,” I pointed out. “There must be a reason why,”
“Brotherhood,” he rapidly replied. “Leaving everyone was like leaving behind my family, I felt the ties being severed as if someone was cutting me apart, and I came back when I heard the anguish of Sam when they took your daughter.”
His revelations left me in no doubt of the deep caring bonds that lay between each and every member of the Volcan Knights, he was a sincere and emotional person behind the make believe lines he penetrated when he always played the joker, it was his way to hide away from the real pain and torture he felt beneath.
Volcan Knights Page 8
